Burglaries in Sussex fell last year - but 8,000 homes were still broken into.

There were 289 fewer properties burgled, a drop of 3.5 per cent from the previous year.

Latest figures from Sussex Police show March this year had the lowest monthly burglary rate for more than five years.

Burglaries remain a major problem but the force is encouraged by the reduction.

Chief Constable Ken Jones said: "Being burgled affects how safe people feel in their homes.

"Victims' reactions range from annoyance at the inconvenience to extreme distress.

"If what we do means fewer people go through such a traumatic experience we are doing a good job."

The decrease has been attributed to districts identifying burglary hotspots early on and arresting suspects before they commit offences.

Burglaries in the Rother district rose steeply last year but pro-active policing has brought numbers down 40 per cent below their four-year average.

Chief Inspector Rob Carden said: "Getting offenders off the streets and in front of the courts is obviously crucial. Some of them were prolific.

"But crime prevention targeting vulnerable people being preyed on by distraction burglars was the way ahead."

Rother's Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) funded 500 distraction burglary kits for target residents.

They included an electronic device with a pre-recorded message triggered by movement to remind homeowners not to open their doors without a safety chain, a lock and chain and a mirror so they can see callers without having to come face-to-face.

The chief constable said: "More crime scenes than ever have been subjected to forensic examination and it is no coincidence that increased detections and reductions were in areas that had forensic potential, namely burglary and vehicle crime, which has seen an 11 per cent drop."

More than 30,000 scenes were examined between March last year and this, 20 per cent up on the year before.

Three-quarters of all identifications were in priority crime categories including 1,072 burglaries, 874 vehicle crimes and 209 violent crimes.

Brian Cook, scientific support manager, said: "From April 5 we were able to take certain samples from all people who come into police custody.

"This will increase the number of samples by perhaps as much as 50 per cent.

"Sussex is to receive more than £2 million from a national DNA expansion programme for staffing and support costs."

Mr Jones said: "Forensics are another tactic in our arsenal to catch offenders.

"Another way of targeting has been started in Hastings where we are not just catching offenders but we are stopping them in their tracks."

Hastings and Rother Persistent Offender Scheme targets repeat offenders on release from prison, spotting early breaches of licences to return them to prison and therefore stopping their crimes.

Detective Chief Inspector Martyn Underhill, the division's crime manager, said: "Based on the previous offending patterns of the individuals involved, we estimate that 400 offences have been prevented by their early return to prison."