POLICE have joined forces with residents and businesses in Cliviger and Worsthorne to help stop the growing problem of stone flag theft.

They have been security coding stone flags, tiles, paving slabs and coping stones with a special ultraviolet paint.

Each batch of the paint is made up of a unique combination of different microdots and cross-referenced to the owner using a national database, which means the police can easily trace stolen flags.

The liquid, called Smart Water, has been devised by a company in Newport specialising in forensic crime prevention and is believed to be a world first.

It is already being used in other parts of Burnley and the Ribble Valley.

Police estimate that several thousand pounds worth of stone is stolen every year. Earlier this year several thousand pounds worth of stone flags was stolen from Towneley Hall in Burnley.

Cliviger and Worsthorne Community Beat Manager PC Glynn Grey and Police Community Support Officer Dave Johnson, are responsible for organising the anti-crime campaign.

PCSO Dave Johnson said: "The theft of stone, flags and tiles is a significant problem for police across Pennine Division with more than 360 reported cases last year.

"Many suspects are caught but the problem for us has been trying to prove that the flags in their possession are stolen. Having property marked with this special paint will help us a great deal and hopefully go some way towards preventing the thefts in the first place."