SECURITY has come under fire at the University of York after two intruders were caught in a student’s bedroom.

Police were called to the incident at Derwent College at about 7.45pm on November 23, but the two men had already fled the building when officers arrived.

Students have blamed the lapse in security on recent changes to the university’s porter system, which have meant some colleges, including Derwent College, no longer have porters on site 24 hours a day.

Joe Rankin, 21, chairman of Derwent College’s Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC), said there had been a spate of intrusions in recent weeks. “It is of course concerning,” he said. “With the removal of 24-hour portering provisions, people are now exploiting the lack of manned security within the college. I think it is poor that the university continues to refuse to acknowledge the importance of 24-hour portering for each college in the face of this and student condemnation.”

A university spokesman said the campus’s security staff swiftly attended the incident on November 23. Access to the student bedrooms at Derwent College could only be obtained through doors with a code system and this code was regularly changed.

“Clearly, these two intruders were in a student bedroom,” he said. “They may well have been let in, or they may have tricked their way in.

“There is no evidence of a break-in and we have checked our CCTV, which has revealed no information to help to establish the identity of the two intruders.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said nothing had been stolen by the two men found in a student’s bedroom on December 23.

He described the men as white and about 5ft 10ins tall. He said one had blonde hair and the other had dark hair.

Witnesses are asked to phone North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 247.

The university spokesman said it had also dealt with two other men who had repeatedly trespassed on university property, including warning one of them that he risked committing the offence of aggravated trespass if he returned to the campus.