The investigation into an unprecedented spate of house burglaries remains open - and two and a half years on, the culprits are still at large.

A review of the Manx police’s response into the break-ins has now been released - albeit heavily redacted - following a Freedom of Information request by the Manx Independent.

At its peak, burglaries were being reported almost daily and the report details how the investigation team struggled to cope with the level of information they had to process.

The report highlights concerns over a lack of experienced detectives at that time, how public confidence suffered as the burglaries went on and how the media strategy detracted from the investigation.

But it also highlights many positives including the maximum effort given by all ranks and police staff towards catching the offenders.

Between January 9 and March 11 2015 there were no fewer than 59 house burglaries, throughout the island but predominantly in Douglas.

During that time more than £160,000 in cash and jewellery was stolen.

When no suspects were apprehended, Lancashire Police’s chief constable was asked to review the police response - and to identify whether any viable lines of inquiry had been overlooked.

In his annual report for 2015-16, Chief Constable Gary Roberts said the review had confirmed the Constabulary’s belief that it had identified and targeted the right offenders, but that there was still insufficient evidence to justify charging anyone.

That conclusion does not appear in the redacted version of the report which has now been released.

In his response to our FoI request, Inspector Mark Britton said: ’At this time this series of crimes remains undetected and as such is still an open investigation.

’The series was one which was unprecedented in the Isle of Man.

’Generally the Constabulary do not experience volume crime.

’Nor has it experienced such levels since.’

He said the Constabulary has implemented many of the recommendations of the review.

The Lancashire report states: ’At its peak burglaries were being reported almost daily and the investigation team struggled to cope with the level of information being collated from the public.

’This in turn led to a lack of clear intelligence and prioritisation or resources.’

It adds: ’Public confidence suffered and the Constabulary recognised that despite the best of intentions, the media strategy was not sufficiently clear and detracted from the investigation.’

The burglaries, given ’critical incident’ status due to the significant public concern, took place over two distinct periods - with 42 offences between January 9 and 24 and a further 17 between February 23 and March 11.

Lancashire’s review team examined crime reports, witness statements and crime scene examinations for a sample of 24 burglaries, 18 from the first spate and six from the second.

The review found there was a ’lack of clarity’ concerning the initial response and then investigation of reported burglary offences but described the overall initial response by uniformed staff and crime scene investigators as ’excellent’.

Uniformed officers carried out house-to-house inquiries, CCTV survey work, letter drops, put out media releases and obtained detailed witness statements from victims and neighbours.

But the review identified that there was a ’lack of investigative ownership’ for the overall series after the first four days.

There was no clarity as to who owned the media or community impact elements to the investigation, the report found.

At one stage there were more than 150 telephone calls into the communications room.

The report says it was evident that every department’s and officer’s focus was fixed on the burglary series.

It states: ’There was maximum effort given from all ranks and police staff.

’A number of officers mentioned during the review that they professionally enjoyed working on the series, even though they found it challenging and demanding.’

The review team identified an issue with professional experience within CID at the time.

This was due to officers coming through the department wanting to gain some limited experience before moving on to the drugs unit or for their own aspirations for promotion.

It also identified that there was a general lack of any exposure to such a volume of linked offences.

The review team suggested there should be an operational team debrief about the burglaries to look at what could be learned to improve future performance.

And they concluded that all members of staff spoken to were ’highly motivated and professionally competent’.

’All officers spoke about what a fantastic team effort it was at a very difficult time working through this critical incident,’ they added.