A TEAM of thieves is being hunted after a series of distraction burglaries.

Several thousand pounds worth of cash and property were stolen during the raids in the Derwentside area during a single afternoon.

The six-strong group had two children with them, one of them a baby in arms and the other a toddler. Police said their clothes, appearance and broken English pointed to them being recently arrived immigrants.

During the course of Thursday afternoon, members of the group stole from a general dealers shop in Consett town centre and a news-agents in Lanchester before they finally fled when staff at Medomsley Post Office became suspicious and called police.

In one incident, at about 2.30pm on Thursday afternoon, two men and two women with a baby went into the Consett shop and distracted the owner, asking for 15 sweets from each tub in the shop, in a mixture of poor English and German.

The owner, who was alone at the time, did not want to insult them by refusing their unusual request, but while he was counting out the sweets they stole £350 cash from the back of the shop and £10,000 worth of his wife's jewellery from an upstairs flat.

In Lanchester, they distracted staff at the newsagents and stole £700 in cash from an aluminium case.

Members of the group tried a similar tactic on the post mistress at Medomsley, but they left empty handed after she alerted police.

They are believed to have been using a Vauxhall car, thought to be silver metallic or pale blue.

PC Alison Orford, of Consett police, said they have also been spotted in Dipton during Thursday, but investigators were working on the possibility the group were from outside Derwentside.

She said the women were wearing full-length skirts with fitted tops and one had a white Muslim-type headdress.

One of the men is described as chubby with a beard.

Anyone with information is asked to ring Consett police station on (01207) 504204