A SPATE of daylight thefts from Marlborough shops has again sparked off demands for the town to have a security camera system.

Kennet is the only district in Wiltshire where the towns do not have CCTV systems.

Occasionally privately run cameras installed in some shops in Marlborough provide pictures of suspected thieves for police to circulate.

This week police released pictures of two men they would like to speak to in connection with a number of thefts in the town.

The pictures were taken by security cameras in the Londis shop in St Margarets Mead where a set of keys was stolen from a staff room.

Police believe the two men may also be able to assist with inquiries into the theft of £350 from the Marlborough Leisure Centre .

Salisbury division police spokesman David Taylor said: "One of the two men may be linked to a till snatch at the Somerfield stores in Marlborough on March 2 when members of the public gave chase to a man but lost him in Silverless Street."

At lunchtime on Monday the manager of Boots in High Street, Gerald Lloyd, gave chase to a shoplifter who escaped in a car after throwing stolen goods at him.

Town councillor Hilary Cripps, who with colleague Marion Hannaford carried out a survey of how CCTV worked in other Wiltshire towns, said: "Sadly Marlborough has become a soft touch for criminals because we do not have a CCTV system in the town."

The Salisbury divisional police commander Chief Supt Jerry Wickham met town councillors in December and told them that CCTV was an undoubted crime deterrent and would be welcomed by police.