METAL thieves struck seven times in the same street within the same week.

The gang stripped hundreds of pounds of lead from garage roofs beside family homes in Ruskin Avenue, Southend.

A woman who spotted the gang, and declined to be named, said: “It was pure chance, I happened to look out of the window and saw them.

“I turned my lights off and carried on watching two men who were standing there as look-outs.

“Then another one showed up on a bike and he lifted a fourth man up on to the garage roof.

“The fellow who was on the roof was then helped down and ran across the road with a big roll of something under his arm.”

She said they ditched the bike and sped away in a Ford Ka at about 8pm on Sunday.

She dialled 999 and police arrived just 90 seconds after the gang fled.

Officers retrieved the bike, but there was no sign of the culprits.

The woman said her house had been stripped of metal just three days before, when a 40ft length of lead was taken from the garage roof. She said: “All the tiles have were moved and my Sky TV wires were moved. It’s council-owned, but I thought if we have a lot of rain there’s all these gaps by the side of the wall and it could cause some damage.”

Police said the problem started Wednesday last week when three houses were targeted.

Tiles were also moved from a fourth house in an attempt to reach the lead there.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “The total value of the stolen lead is as yet unknown, but it is estimated to run into several hundreds of pounds.

“Anyone who has seen suspicious activity in Ruskin Avenue over the past week, or who has information about who is committing these crimes, is asked to contact Southend police station.”

Anyone with information can call PC Francisco Rodriguez-Perez or PC Gill Parks on 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.