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Original poster

To think I might have been burgled?

235 replies

Kittensat36 · 23/08/2024 05:23

Having a bizarre and upsetting 48 hours. Just need to vent really.

Got up yesterday morning and was preparing to leave for work when I realised that my handbag was not in the hall. It normally sits on an ottoman I have, which is about 10 feet in. I know it was there because I remember taking my phone out of it the other night to send a text

Had to have an emergency day off , expecting to find it any minute - my flat is very untidy, but I expected to find it at some point. I even checked the washing machine in case I had taken it into the bathroom and scooped it up with the washing I was about to do.

But how on earth did it happen if I was burgled? The front door was shut, the back door was locked and the only open window opens onto a secure garden (and you would have cross my bed to get in).

I have to say that my bag is not the only thing that has disappeared over the last couple of weeks. My pill container for my meds disappeared from my living room, I thought that the cats might have bapped it somewhere, but they aren't talking. A batch of paperwork is also on the missing list- a receipt for a large purchase I made recently and a prescription for flea meds. All highly useful (not), but a bit odd as laptops were in the same room and were left untouched.

A ring doorbell/cameras would have been useful and I will have to get some. But I have nothing now. I suppose that if they put something through the letter box, they might have been able to get the door open, but isn't that a bit risky in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it have been easier to get in while I am at work?

Thank goodness for my marvellous upstairs neighbour lending me some cash, or I would be really stuck.

Got to go to work to sort out getting a new workphone and getting my locker broken into to retrieve my work kit. Then sorting a new barrel for my front door lock...

Thanks for reading my rant.

OP posts:
Taluulaah · 25/08/2024 01:43

Wow OP, I don’t know whether to be happy or disappointed for you, knowing that you have infact been burgled, but that you weren’t going totally mad, and also that you got your belongings back. Silver linings, I suppose.

Defo invest in a camera, I have a feeling this won’t be the last time the culprit tries their luck if it appears they’ve been in and nicked stuff on a few separate occasions. Sounds like they may have a key so they’ll probably give it another go when the dust settles.

As for why they took what they did, seems pretty obvious to me - I mean the handbag is self explanatory really, but the pills/pill container may offer something an addict can use (or sell) and the paperwork may offer banking info, credit card details or info they can use to steal your identity. 🤷🏻‍♀️ That’s my theory anyway.

Absolute scumbags, anyway. I hope you manage to find out who’s behind it. And then, with changed locks and better security measures (and a report to the police too?), hopefully you can begin to feel more at ease in your home again.
Wishing you all the best.

Gruffling · 25/08/2024 01:20

All these people saying she is imagining it! If it's not that unlikely that someone random has a key and is popping in.

I once lived in an apartment where previous residents kept keys to communal areas and storage and I caught them coming and going a year later!

KekseKekse · 25/08/2024 01:16

I have changed a few locks over the years. So, OP hopefully you've seen on You Tube that before you go and buy a new one you will need to unscrew the current one, take it out and measure the three sections of it and then put it back. Otherwise you will get the wrong size lock.

RadiantRainbow · 25/08/2024 00:56

If nothing was taken from the bag, are you sure it didn’t slide off your shoulder onto the pavement just before you got home? Or you dropped it because you were also holding another bag and didn’t realise? It happened to me before…(one bag slipping out without me noticing because I was holding several bags/including plastic shoppers in my hand)

Original poster
Kittensat36 · 25/08/2024 00:53

BiscuityBoyle · 24/08/2024 23:39

Well how strange. How odd that it was taken but also odd that it happened to be found by someone with a connection to you. Change the locks as soon as you can.

I have very bright hair and she recognised me from my work pass. It's pretty friendly round here - apart from this. The cats are famous on my road. I encourage people to stroke them. Paid off in this case.

OP posts:
Original poster
Kittensat36 · 25/08/2024 00:48

Thanks all,

It's a uPVC door, so there's the lock and 4 bolts that slip into slots in the frame, so you can't just slip the lock with a card.

Currently, the door is locked on the inside (not keen on doing that regularly as I am the kind of person who would slam the door and THEN remember the key is in the lock inside). In addition, my shopping trolley which is filled with 4 bottles of pop and all the tins I have is propped against the door. I can barely move it on wheels

I assume that as I haven't heard a sound, whoever itbis has a keyI shall probably be kicking the door of B&Q in first thing tomorrow for a new lock (with a thumb turn so I can lock it internally)and any other things that I can fit. I want an easy exit if there is a fire. Cameras will have to be sorted when I get my cards replaced (got them all back, but they were cancelled, just in case).

I don't really understand why such silly things have been taken . Someone suggested that it might be to mess with me.... but whyTF?

Not gonna stress about it though.

Praise for my neighbours - both the one who found my bag and my upstairs neighbour who immediately offered to lend me money to get me through the weekend.

Also my banks, one got me solvent again and the other, who was hyper-speedy at getting a new card to me on a Bank Holiday.

Right that's me off to bed for a quiet night.
X

OP posts:
BiscuityBoyle · 24/08/2024 23:39

Well how strange. How odd that it was taken but also odd that it happened to be found by someone with a connection to you. Change the locks as soon as you can.

JohnTheRevelator · 24/08/2024 23:26

How utterly bizarre. Got no answers,sorry,but do keep us updated as I'm intrigued.

RochelleGoyle · 24/08/2024 23:00

Sorry to hear this OP, how horrible.

PotatoPie111 · 24/08/2024 22:52

Is there something you can do tonight to make yourself more secure? A piece of furniture in front of the door?

OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon · 24/08/2024 22:52

In the meantime, push the ottoman across the front door if you think that is how someone got in.
and put something on it that would be noisy if it fell over if the door was being opened.

Notquitegrownup2 · 24/08/2024 22:52

Great news! They must have been disturbed and dropped it!
Is your lock a yale-type? We were burgled a while back. They used a credit card to slide down the door and ping the Yale lock open. Insurance company said it's very common, and we had to intall a second chub style lock.
HTH

TheBottomsOfMyTrousersAreRolled · 24/08/2024 22:52

These are odd things for someone to steal. And they appear to be escalating. Going from a receipt to a handbag.

have you ordered the cameras? And bought the barrel lock?

Betyouthinkthissongisaboutyou · 24/08/2024 22:47

Did they steal money? Bank cards?

m00ngirl · 24/08/2024 22:45

Omg OP that's terrible but so lucky you have your bag back, but do you have somewhere safe to stay until locks changed/house security beefed up..?

Original poster
Kittensat36 · 24/08/2024 22:41

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

Hi fellow Vipers

I WAS BURGLED.

A couple just came to my door with my handbag, with everything still in it. I knew the woman because i have chatted with her over my cats.

Her mother in law found my bag and the contents all over the pavement. She tried the one number in the bag, but that didn't work. For goodness sake, she even charged the phone for me.

Only when her DIL popped round and saw my work pass, she knew where it belonged. They just brought it back.

So while I am untidy, I wasn't going mad, like I feared.

Still no idea how they got in though. I am deffo changing that lock first thing tomorrow.

OP posts:
TransformerZ · 24/08/2024 21:11

Tidy your house.

TransformerZ · 24/08/2024 21:11

Your cats are moving things / playing with them.

QuestionableMouse · 24/08/2024 20:13

Betyouthinkthissongisaboutyou · 23/08/2024 06:27

Always take your handbag to bedroom. I put mine in my wardrobe and hide it under some stuff!

Fuck no.

If someone breaks in, I want them to take the stuff and go, not wander into the room where I'm sleeping! There's nothing in a handbag that can't be replaced.

@Kittensat36 do you have a carbon monoxide detector? There's a thread on Reddit where the op is losing stuff and finding notes - they had a carbon monoxide leak and were lucky to survive!

Sharptonguedwoman · 24/08/2024 20:09

Kittensat36 · 23/08/2024 10:36

Thanks all. After a bit more sleep and sensible comments, it does seem less likely that someone has been in, but not entirely impossible. The why was a puzzle

Had it just been the tablets and paperwork, I would have just chalked it up to me being untidy and it will come out in the wash. But a 10x8 handbag?

Unfortunately, the workphone was flat, so it didn't ring. The cards have been cancelled and my flat is rather tidier than yesterday morning. Will continue the good work over the weekend.

For the lady who mentioned Carbon Monoxide, my detector was bought last year an is in good order.

Thanks all

Please OP, change your locks and put window locks on.

TyrannasaurusJex · 24/08/2024 19:39

Betyouthinkthissongisaboutyou · 23/08/2024 06:27

Always take your handbag to bedroom. I put mine in my wardrobe and hide it under some stuff!

oh I think totally the opposite of this. i leave mine right by the front door. if someone breaks into my house I'd much rather they just grab that and leave than come any further into my home! everything in that handbag can be replaced. mine and my family's safety can't.

CalicoPusscat · 24/08/2024 19:32

Any joy, @Kittensat36?

Delphiniumandlupins · 24/08/2024 19:26

If you can try to retrace your movements from the last time you know you had your handbag. Did you bring it into the flat when you came home from work? Had you been shopping? Look in daft places - freezer, cupboard you store spare toilet roll, breadbin, washing machine. Check your bank statements for unknown transactions - I'm not a master criminal but imagine I would do some 'contactless' shopping asap if I acquired someone else's bank cards. If there's been no activity I would suspect misplaced rather than stolen.

Gettingnowhereagain · 24/08/2024 19:15

nonevernotever · 23/08/2024 06:29

You say the front door was shut and the back door locked? Was the front door locked, or just shut? Dipping is really common, where thieves go along a street usually at night, trying every door handle and grabbing whatever they can find quickly while the household is asleep. Typically it's things like car keys, bags phones etc that go but it can be really odd things too (5 old coats and an umbrella?)

That happened to my daughter she accidentally left the door unlocked and they took her handbag and phone.

Ivehearditbothways · 24/08/2024 19:06

flutterby1 · 23/08/2024 10:24

@Turtonator
Also, I often worry about taking shopping out of my boot snd into the house... it does happen. I worry that someone will pinch something from the boot whilst I'm in the kitchen or something from the hall whilst my door is open!

There was a thread on here years ago with the title something like, “Someone just stole my bloody cava.” And that’s what happened! The OP had been bringing her shopping in and someone had taken her bottle of cava out the boot while she was inside!

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