A crime prevention system that stains offenders with unwashable liquid has seen a 100 per cent success rate in three Falmouth schools.

With a history of break-ins at the town's schools over the summer holidays, police in Falmouth decided to take action.

At the beginning of the summer, officers installed the Smart Water system into Marlborough School, Fal-mouth Primary School and Falmouth School.

The system works by marking property with a special liquid, which is invisible to the human eye but shows up under ultra-violet light. The liquid also stains offenders for up to 21 days, even when clothes and skin are washed.

PC Ian Cocklin, who researched and put in the system, launched a high-profile campaign warning people that the liquid was in place - and his efforts appear to have had the desired result, with not one of the schools being broken into over the six-week summer holiday.

PC Matt Cummins, neighbourhood beat manager at Falmouth police station, said: "We have been quite badly hit with break-ins at schools, historically. Since the system was installed in the schools we haven't had a single confirmed break-in. Signs have gone up outside each school and as a result we have not had break-ins. We are pleased, definitely."

He added that he was also pleased with the result of crime prevention advice given to Falmouth Primary School, which had been suffering from windows being repeatedly smashed.

However, officers visited the school and gave advice on how to prevent this - which included looking at the CCTV movements - and since then no criminal damage had occurred at the school.