Metal thieves have resorted to stealing garden taps in a bid to raise cash, police in the Black Country fear.

There have been a string of thefts from three homes in Olive Hill Road and New John Street, Halesowen.

Officers are still investigating the crimes but believe they could have been stolen to sell for scrap. It is the latest in a rash of metal thefts in the area. Copper piping, catalytic converters and tools have been targeted.

Communications manager for West Midlands Police in Dudley, Catherine Hickman, said: “Police in Halesowen received reports on Friday evening of a small number of homes having taps stolen from the outside of their property.

Between 10pm and 11pm on Friday three homes were targeted, in Olive Hill Road and New John Street. The taps were taken off the wall and the incidents are currently being investigated as theft.

The motive for the thefts is not clear at this stage, it may be sheer devilment by the offender, or they may have been stolen for the purpose of selling for scrap, however the value is not expected to be great for such items.”

Sergeant Martin Hall warned residents to be on their guard via his Twitter page: “Received three reports of outside garden taps being stolen from front walls of homes. One to bear in mind please,” it said.

Last month metal thieves diced with death when they ripped out gas meters from four Dudley homes over a weekend. Gas meters were taken from four homes in Water Road, Temple Street and Zoar Street, Lower Gornal.

In August police relaunched Operation Steel to try and combat the problem after a marked rise in metal theft both regionally and nationally, blamed on soaring metal prices.

The force is also running Keg Watch — a scheme aimed at reducing the number of empty beer kegs stolen from pubs across the region.

Thieves stealing the kegs are also robbing the West Midlands’ pub industry of hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.

Thousands of kegs, which cost up to £165 each to replace, are taken from pub yards and from the street before they can be returned to their breweries.Thefts across the country cost the industry more than £50million, with around 600,000 kegs reported stolen every year.

Neil Williams, from the British Beer & Pub Association, said it was impossible to know precisely how many were taken from the region, but that the figures ran into the thousands.

Police figures show that in the past three months metal thefts in Dudley have increased from 94 in August to 102 in September to 159 in October.

In neighbouring areas — Sandwell and Wolverhampton — there was a decline of up to 40 per cent in the number of offences during the same period. Anyone with information with the latest thefts should contact Halesowen Police station on 0345 113 5000.