A MAN has appeared in court following a spate of burglaries from schools and homes across Frodsham.

Over the past few months police have stepped up patrols across the market town after homes and cars were targeted in the middle of the night.

Now police have charged a Merseyside man in connection with the burglaries after arresting him on a bus in Runcorn last Wednesday (November 15).

David Southern, of no fixed address, appeared at Chester Magistrates Court on Friday (November 16) charged with five burglaries from homes and garages, one theft from a vehicle and one count of fraud using a credit card.

The 41-year-old was also charged with possession cannabis. He pleaded not guilty to all the offences.

Southern is now due to appear for trial at Chester Crown Court on December 3 following the burglaries from homes on Bridge Lane and Grasmere Road in Frodsham, an industrial premises and Manor House Primary School, where laptop computers were stolen.