Page 5 | We have been robbed, my teen boys were in the house..

Hendecan · 2021-04-14T10:45:00+00:00

I feel so shaky. I took my girls to an art club and my teen boys were in the house. Thankfully my boys were not harmed or injured. The robbers forced their way in. We live in a detached property in a rural area. They took all my jewellery. I feel sick- they were probably watching the house.

Crispina · 14/04/2021 16:32

There was a police programme recently where they said Asian families are being targeted for gold items

nimbuscloud · 14/04/2021 16:32

What is a gold detector?

You can buy them on Amazon for £19.99

trickyex · 14/04/2021 16:40

Have also been burgled and also sympathise OP, poor you and poor boys.
I think its a good idea to show you are upset and talk to them about it, must feel awful for them to know it happened when they were there.
Horrible.

JellyfishandShells · 14/04/2021 16:41

So sorry to hear this - it feels like such a violation. It is such a violation of your sanctuary and security.

We were burgled a couple of years ago and they only took jewellery and cash. Police and insurance both said electrical/electronic goods are much less attractive to burglars now because they can be traced, iPads not able to be unlocked, generally bulkier and the second hand value is not worth the risk by comparison to light weight and easily melted/ resold jewellery.

RonSwansonsChair · 14/04/2021 16:44

Hope everyone's OK and fingers crossed your stuff is recovered.

MrKlaw · 14/04/2021 16:44

@CandyLeBonBon

How would they know where to find stuff though? That's really disturbing!

As pp have said it must surely be someone who has previously had access - how did they get the safe open?

So shocking

quick in, head for the bedrooms, find the one that looks like the master, check drawers and wardrobe - 80% of the time thats probably going to find a jewellry box within 1-2 mins.

Its a tiny chance you'll get burgled but maybe having some cheap/fake stuff in a shiny box in your bedroom clearly on show, and keep the good stuff more hidden?

tbh I'd rather have them out of the house - my car keys are not reachable from the front door, but if they break in for the car they're easy to find because I don't want anyone coming upstairs while we're in the house.

WorraLiberty · 14/04/2021 16:54

@Hendecan

The CID have taken over now. The jewellery was in a safe box so they could easily prise that open. It makes me ill to think that the burglars are someone we know. Its also possible that the burglars had gold detectors...

What sort of safe box? Pretty pointless if it can be easily prised open.

Was it hidden in the house or on full display?

Original poster

Hendecan · 14/04/2021 16:59

Its a heavy duty safe box with a combination lock and it was hidden in my room. They took it with them and can break or cut it open.

OP posts:

FlyingBurrito · 14/04/2021 16:59

quick in, head for the bedrooms, find the one that looks like the master, check drawers and wardrobe - 80% of the time thats probably going to find a jewellry box within 1-2 mins

The OP says she thinks they were watching the house so they knew the boys were in there and presumably at 11am they would have assumed they were up and about so I don't think this was oopportunists, it sounds like a very well organised theft, in and out as quickly as possible knowing exactly where to find what they wanted.

Very risky though which doesn't fit with something planned so maybe it was someone say on drugs who just got very lucky

nimbuscloud · 14/04/2021 16:59

How much was the jewellery worth?

Hawkins001 · 14/04/2021 17:04

Firstly all the best, secondly from a forensics perspective, how did they know about the safe, ? How did they get the code or combination for it , or key, and third how did they know the jewellery was in there , and lastly why skip past valuable electronic goods e.g. The Mac book ? Too many suspicious red flags for it to be random.

WorraLiberty · 14/04/2021 17:06

@Hendecan

Its a heavy duty safe box with a combination lock and it was hidden in my room. They took it with them and can break or cut it open.

How did they get it out of the door once they'd actually found it?

There's far more to this than meets the eye OP and I think the police must've known that.

For them to come the same day let alone quickly is quite unusual nowadays. Once the burglars are off the premises, it's no longer a priority call unfortunately.

Itsmeagainandagain · 14/04/2021 17:12

My garage was broken into, PlayStation and a TV was stolen, found out with was neighbours who knew what was in there.
Sorry sometimes it's people you know, who'd know what you had and where it was hidden. Though you can't point fingers without proof go on your gut and make sure to keep them at arms length from now on, including keeping jewellery well hidden where nobody knows where it is

paralysedbyinertia · 14/04/2021 17:13

For them to come the same day let alone quickly is quite unusual nowadays. Once the burglars are off the premises, it's no longer a priority call unfortunately.

Police came pretty much immediately after my parents discovered that they had been burgled - probably within the hour, even though the burglars had long since left the property. Maybe it depends on where you live?

MiaChia · 14/04/2021 17:15

There are a lot of conspiracy theorists on this thread! ‘Far more to this than meets the eye’ etc. Really? Are you all employed by the CID?

Our burglars also took car keys and watches etc but left all iPads, phones and laptops and that’s how most of them operate according to the police who attended quickly and arrested the thieving scumbags a few miles down the road. They turned out to be seasoned scumbags too and so they got awarded a few years prison time for their ‘efforts’. They attacked my son who disturbed them and I hope they are enjoying prison food because it’s all they’ll be getting for a while!

Reinventinganna · 14/04/2021 17:16

I’m really sorry that you’ve had this experience op. It must be terrifying.

paralysedbyinertia · 14/04/2021 17:17

My parents' burglars also made off with a very heavy duty safe and ignored all of the electronics. No idea how they managed to carry it out or eventually get into it, it would have been bloody difficult. I find some considerable satisfaction in knowing that there was absolutely nothing of value in there when they finally managed to access it. All that effort for no gain!

WorraLiberty · 14/04/2021 17:18

@paralysedbyinertia

For them to come the same day let alone quickly is quite unusual nowadays. Once the burglars are off the premises, it's no longer a priority call unfortunately.

Police came pretty much immediately after my parents discovered that they had been burgled - probably within the hour, even though the burglars had long since left the property. Maybe it depends on where you live?

Yes it probably does depend on where you live and how busy the police are.

I live in Met Police area and very often they don't come out at all for burglaries. They just give your a crime reference number for your house insurance.

Cosmos45 · 14/04/2021 17:19

I am so sorry this happened to you, it is my worst nightmare. I hope your boys are ok.

Something similar happened to my neighbour, we live on a rural lane and the next door neighbour was having lots of building work done so there were a lot of vans parked outside (no yellow lines or pavements). This allowed someone to watch another house without being detected, being a rural lane if someone sat outside in a car we would all notice pretty quickly but as there was unusual amount of extra vehicles it was chaotic. Anyhow, they waited until my neighbour popped out to the garden centre and the police said one followed her and two stayed and broke in. She was an elderly lady with lots and lots of expensive jewellry and they knew exactly where to find it. She was only gone for 45 mins and they were in and out and off with the lot along with expensive bags and scarves etc.

Bizarrely, she got targeted again some 6 mths later.

We do not live in an area where there are lots of break ins and it was very strange they targeted her particularly. She is an elderly widow whose idea of downsizing once her husband died was to a 5 bed detached house in a affluent area. She was always mentioning her husband and which piece of jewellery he had got her when ("my Derek bought me this Cartier watch for our 10th anniversary" type of thing). I often wondered if she had been in the village, at the hairdressers or some such place and someone overheard her saying this type of thing and then perhaps followed her home because it seem far too targeted and slick to have been random.

paralysedbyinertia · 14/04/2021 17:22

Yes it probably does depend on where you live and how busy the police are.

Police seem to come out for everything here. Crime rates are pretty low overall, so I imagine they haven't got much else to do....

They were very nice when they came, and they subsequently sent another officer around to advise my parents on additional security measures for their home.They didn't manage to locate the culprits though.

GappyValley · 14/04/2021 17:25

@Cosmos45

There was a spate of burglaries and muggings in my area a few summers ago where the MO was for the ‘scouts’ to go to pubs and restaurants and keep an eye on who had expensive watches, handbags etc and then phone ahead to the scumbug robbers who would either follow them out of the restaurant and mug them, or follow them home and burgle them

They basically knew that if they saw a couple having dinner where both had nice watches, she had a nice handbag and jewellery, there would be more at home.

Awful, awful criminal behaviour

Littlefluffyclouds13 · 14/04/2021 17:28

@HollowTalk

Are you in the UK, OP? I'm surprised at your daughter going to art club.

It does sound as though it's someone who knows your house. Can you trust the tradespeople you've had? What about your sons' friends?

Do you have any CCTV on the outside?

Oh my god have people lost all sense over the past year?

Op has been burgled while her dc are at home and your first comment is to question if she should be taking her dd to art club.
Ffs are you only able to think and talk to others if it's related to covid and 'the rules'?!

Op, really hope you're ok

blobblob · 14/04/2021 17:30

Being burgled was the worst thing that happened to me. I lost everything that mattered, including jewellery, books, tech and all my family photos which were packed in a large box ready for moving. Obviously they didn't know what was in the boxes; they just took what they could.

I've also been seriously assaulted but got over that much more quickly. A horrible crime. It should be much more severely dealt with than it is. I'm so sorry OP.

endofthelinefinally · 14/04/2021 17:31

The Met Police won't even come out for armed robbery unless there is death or serious injury.

lurker101 · 14/04/2021 17:41

@endofthelinefinally

The Met Police won't even come out for armed robbery unless there is death or serious injury.

That wasn’t my experience. We were burgled when we were out of the home. Once reported the Met came and checked for fingerprints etc. And neighbourhood policing team followed up with us to give additional advice and offered to “safe mark” remaining items if we wanted. This is in the last 5 years.