A 34-YEAR-OLD Gargrave man found dead in his home on Saturday is being linked with a burglary at a house in Skipton the previous day.

A post-mortem examination has been unable to pinpoint the cause of Keith Timms' death and police are awaiting toxicology reports.

On Friday morning, a resident of Gargrave Road, Skipton, returned home to find some of his belongings had been disturbed and a burglar hiding behind a cupboard.

"After a struggle and a chase the burglar escaped," said Skipton Inspector Tad Nowakowski. He fled with cash and jewellery.

Insp Nowakowski said the Skipton resident called police at 11.41am, who then launched a massive search for the intruder.

"All operational officers turned out," he added. "The search went on for at least a couple of hours."

It covered the bus station, train station, school grounds, and the main routes in and out of town.

An appeal was put over the Shop Watch Radio for businessmen to be on the look out and news flashes were broadcast on the radio. All were unsuccessful in tracking the burglar down.

At 5.30pm the following day ambulance staff were called to a house in Gargrave where they found the body of Mr Timms, an unemployed man.

A police statement said there were no obvious injuries which could have caused the death.

Police believe a number of items recovered from the Gargrave house were those stolen from Skipton the previous day.

The coroner has opened and adjourned an inquest into Mr Timms' death, and a full hearing will take place on a date to be fixed.

Insp Nowakowski said he was not in a position to say whether there was any link between Mr Timms and the armed robbery on a Skipton taxi driver reported in last week's Herald.

During this attack on January 5, a man booked and got into a taxi in Gargrave but when it turned on to the driveway leading to Aireville Pool in Skipton, he pulled a knife and held it to the driver's throat and demanded money.

However police are looking into whether Mr Timms could have been involved with other burglaries in the Skipton area.

Police launched a campaign on Monday to track down the burglars who have struck in Skipton 20 times since December 1.

Ten of those have been in the Raikes, Rockwood and Gargrave Road area, and have been during the day whilst the owners have been out. Small items like jewellery, cameras and a laptop have been stolen.

Seven have been in the Middletown area and were all sneak-ins while the residents were upstairs or in another room.

Operation Dovecoat began on Monday and is a concerted effort to catch these offenders. Officers have been on patrol in the two targeted areas on the look out for people acting suspiciously. They have also used an automatic number plate recognition machine to check for stolen vehicles.

The operation has involved teams from CID, traffic, uniform officers, the task force and the intelligence unit.