Women in a Phoenix housing complex are keeping a close eye on their delicates since the well-dressed prowler began snatching underwear left overnight on washing lines

A CHEEKY thief has gone on a panty-raiding spree in a township north of Durban.

Women in a Phoenix housing complex are keeping a close eye on their delicates since the well-dressed prowler began snatching underwear left overnight on washing lines. But last week, he became braver.

"I looked out of the window, and in broad daylight a man dressed in formal clothes walked up to my clothes horse and took two panties. He shoved them into his pocket," a resident said.

The woman shouted for her husband. "When he realised that I saw him, he started to run. My husband put on his shoes and ran out of the house, but the man was gone."

The woman has lost seven panties to the thief.

Another woman said the thief stole her panties but left behind her mother-in-law's full briefs. "It is obvious that he is getting some sort of sexual pleasure from this because he only steals sexy lingerie. It's sickening. It is theft but I don't think the police will waste their time looking for him, so I have not laid a complaint," she said.

Durban clinical psychologist Dr Cathrin Venter explained that stealing panties was part of a sexual fetish linked to observing or handling underwear worn by others. She said simply buying panties would not be as pleasurable as stealing them for those with the fetish.

"I have many patients who come for counselling when they have been caught. They do it because they want a signed document to say that they are seeking counselling to lessen their penalty."