Police in north Manchester are to mount quad bikes in an operation to tackle anti-social behaviour in Jewish neighbourhoods in Prestwich and Whitefield, but have been told they cannot use them to chase offenders.

Local residents raised concerns at community police meetings about youths illegally riding off-road vehicles in parks and roads.

Members of a London synagogue observed a special fast on Monday after a burglary in which its Torah scrolls were dumped on the floor.

Thousands of pounds' worth of silver artefacts and scroll cases were stolen from Magen Avraham, a congregation of Aden Jews in Finchley, late last Thursday night or in the early hours of Friday.

A £6,000 painting stolen from a St John's Wood art gallery two years ago has been recovered after a fan of the artist discovered it hanging in a Moroccan shop.

Three of Anita Klein's paintings were bought with a fraudulent credit card from the Boundary Gallery on the last day of her exhibition two years ago.

A looted 12th-century manuscript is to be returned to Italy, the first under a new law designed to restitute art work in British museums and galleries stolen during the Holocaust.

The intricately decorated missal, a manuscript for Catholic mass, is to return to the cathedral in Benevento.

The missal was acquired by a British soldier from a secondhand book-seller in Naples in 1944, and subsequently bought by the British Museum at an auction in 1947.

Looted by Axis forces in Italy before turning up in the bookshop, the manuscript was later transferred to the British Library.

Merseyside police are investigating repeated thefts of large amounts of lead from the roof of Liverpool's Princes Road Synagogue.

Thousands of pounds' worth of damage is thought to have been caused to the Grade I-listed building.

The latest theft comes after £170,000 worth of repairs to Princes Road, funded by English Heritage and communal donations. The robbery has also caused rainwater to leak into the shul's annexe, causing further damage.

Shop owners targeted in a series of robberies have reacted angrily after a senior police officer rejected their calls for CCTV cameras to protect businesses.

A number of Jewish businesses in Temple Fortune, North-West London, have been hit by ram raiders and gangs stealing expensive items, such as designer handbags and sunglasses.

In the most recent incident, Lorretta Paterson, who runs gift shop Temptations, was severely beaten by a gang which stole her car.