A man has been identified by police in connection with 11 housebreakings at places of worship across Renfrewshire.
Police Scotland revealed details of the investigation at Renfrewshire Council’s Police and Fire and Rescue Scrutiny Sub-Committee on Tuesday 18th August.
Chief Superintendent Rhona Fraser said Renfrewshire’s priority policing team had identified a man who was responsible for the 11 housebreakings.
She said: “Our priority policing team identified a male who was responsible for the housebreaking of 11 places of worship within Renfrewshire, and it then transpired that the same male was responsible for 14 similar housebreakings within Greater Glasgow Division and four further instances within Argyll and West Dunbartonshire.
“So a very positive piece of work both locally and with our wider neighbours.”
The figures mean the man was linked by police to 29 similar housebreakings across the three policing areas.
Police did not identify the places of worship involved or provide details of where in Renfrewshire the 11 housebreakings took place during the meeting.
The case was highlighted as Police Scotland presented its Renfrewshire performance report covering 1st April to 30th June 2026.
The report showed housebreaking crimes across Renfrewshire increased by 23.5 per cent compared with the previous year.
Police said part of the wider increase was linked to young people entering derelict commercial and public buildings, which officers believe may be connected to the growing trend of “urban exploration”.
Chief Superintendent Fraser also told councillors that housebreaking had risen during the reporting period and said individual offenders can have a significant effect on crime figures.
She said: “Much like many of the statistics, isolated individuals can cause peaks and troughs in that regard.”