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Someone was in our house last night.

470 replies

worried91 · 10/04/2022 10:59

Am so worried and confused about what happened.
1am- DH and I go upto bed, dd1 has popped out to pick up her boyfriend from the pub and bring him back here and dd2 has just arrived home from work. Younger dc have been asleep for hours.
5am- I hear a phone vibrating in the house and what sounds like an alarm, dh puts his ears to the older dc's doors but thinks it's coming from downstairs. Goes down past the (closed?) front door and locates the phone down the back of the couch. Knocks on oldest dd's door and throws the phone to her sleeping boyfriend saying he'd left it downstairs.
8am dd2 goes downstairs for a drink and the front door is wide open. I hear her coming up to check on the little two who are still asleep in bed.
At this point I start getting concerned so go into dd1s room and her boyfriend says the phone isn't his! He thought dh had got confused about who he was giving it to at 5am so just put it under the bed and went back to sleep.
Dh insists the door was closed when he walked past it at 5am (Yale lock no handle so when it's not clicked closed it swings wide open so I believe it was closed)
Back door is locked with the key in the door and the conservatory has an added locking system over the original lock that hasn't been moved.
We live in a nice area, we are on the edge of town with fields all around so you wouldn't walk past our house going anywhere else iyswim, you'd have to be deliberately coming this way.
We rent our house (moved in 18 months ago) so we don't know who all had keys before us which stupidly never crossed my mind until this morning 😕
Nothing seems to have been touched, my bag is over the end of the stairs, the cars and keys are all there and no laptops etc are missing.
I've no idea why anyone would have come in, lost their phone on the couch then left again without us hearing anything.
I'm worried that the person must have still been in the house when dh went downstairs then left the door open when he went out.
The only other thing to add is one night a few weeks ago dd2 came in at 1am then I went out at 5am and the door was wide open. I told her to be more careful when she came in and she insisted that she had closed the door properly but now I'm wondering if someone has done this before.
We've phoned the police who are coming out at some point to talk to us and pick up the phone (phones locked with a gaming picture on the Lock Screen) and will be going to B&Q to get new locks but I feel so on edge wondering what's been going on 😔

OP posts:
Cornishclio · 11/04/2022 20:16

Given the police have taken the phone and probably will not make it a priority given nothing was taken I would hazard a guess you will hear no more about it. Changing the locks sounds sensible and a word with your eldest DC about security and making sure doors are locked at night will mean this is less likely to happen again. I cannot think why someone would come in, leave their phone and the door wide open between 5 am and 8 am unless one of you sleep walks and the phone is just some random strangers accidentally picked up by your DC at the pub or the boyfriend.

debwong · 11/04/2022 20:32

LTB

(Latch the bolt)

DontStopMeNow7 · 11/04/2022 20:36

I like the idea given about a secret camera so you can see who’s coming and going. It might solve this mysterious chain of events!

Abc1979 · 11/04/2022 20:42

Intrigued to know what the police finds out on that phone.

Xpologog · 11/04/2022 20:48

Previous tenant used to let a friend crash on their sofa, gave them a key? ( you’ve not got a key hidden outside have you?) Or could previous tenant have left a hidden key?
Locks changed and Ring doorbell the way to go.

katztwist · 11/04/2022 20:49

Really intruiged to find out what happened and who it was, if you find out, please do let us know!

Hellenski · 11/04/2022 20:57

All the crazy suggestions on here have scared the crap out of me! I regret clicking on this!

memitchy · 11/04/2022 21:12

If renting why aren't the agents/ owners changing the locks , or at least pay for this- can also supply police with a list of previous renters too?

Ineke · 11/04/2022 21:38

You need to get a ring door camera so you can see for your self who the mystery intruder is.

TheGreatFoodDivide · 11/04/2022 22:02

My husband had similar somewhere he rented during his youth. It was a previous tenant who would let himself in after a night out, sleep on the sofa, and leave early hours!

TabithaTittlemouse · 11/04/2022 22:04

@Ormally

The thing ringing alarm bells for me is the situation where this happened before, and DD had insisted she'd shut the door properly; I suspect that she had.

Both times, it's been after 1am. Plus, you'd gone down at 5 and seen the door open then, and the next time, the phone alarm itself was going off about that time (i.e. this might have been to avoid people waking up if someone had known that was what happened before). It's a strangely narrow window of time.

I'm not one for cameras but I think this would persuade me to get one.

Oooh didn’t think of that! Good thinking Batman
Pixiedust1234 · 11/04/2022 22:23

@debwong

LTB

(Latch the bolt)

Grin
OnlyClothes · 11/04/2022 22:27

@purplesequins

Sorry, that was a quote (but I didn’t ‘quote’ it properly). What I was saying was that you CAN change the locks, as long as you change them back to the original ones at the end of the tenancy.

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 11/04/2022 23:00

Has anyone who's making all the phone police / phone 101 remarks actually tried to report anything to the police in the last 5 or so years ?
I fear any attempt to report a mysterious non burglary would not end well.

Feckauras · 11/04/2022 23:16

@ToffeeMamma I know someone this happened to. She was a young woman, and every time she left the house, the man came down from the attic and lived in her home. He had been living there for months before she noticed unusual things happening, like random items appearing, things going missing. By the time she got the police involved thinking the was an intruder in her home, he disappeared. The most chilling thing is she never got to see who he was, and there was plenty of evidence of him living in the attic.

Jonad · 11/04/2022 23:32

Things the police have been and collected the phone.

TheArtfulBlogger · 11/04/2022 23:34

[quote Feckauras]@ToffeeMamma I know someone this happened to. She was a young woman, and every time she left the house, the man came down from the attic and lived in her home. He had been living there for months before she noticed unusual things happening, like random items appearing, things going missing. By the time she got the police involved thinking the was an intruder in her home, he disappeared. The most chilling thing is she never got to see who he was, and there was plenty of evidence of him living in the attic.[/quote]
What. The. Hell.

Shock
Confusedpapoose · 11/04/2022 23:46

I’m so invested 😩😩😩

Marvellousmadness · 11/04/2022 23:46

Youd be the worst neighbours to live next to with all the cars coming in at all hours.
Plus with everyone coming at all hours the most reasonable explanation is someone forgot to lock the door and must have taken someone else's phone home by accident or something.
With all this coming in and out at night AND the fact you have little one I cant believe you dont have a security system and/or ring doorbell.

But ps. You said your primary aged kids couldnt have opened the door? I read about a 7 and 9 yo on here the other day that were found in their front yard at 2.30 am!! Hmm

Sadandfedup2 · 11/04/2022 23:49

Very invested 😳

Confusedpapoose · 11/04/2022 23:50

I think you need to get a bit of a grip @PrivateHall 😂

Confusedpapoose · 11/04/2022 23:52

@BitOutOfPractice

You live in a quiet residential street? It doesn't sound quiet to me, car doors slamming, shouting out of windows in the early hours!
Oh my Lord. You sound like you’d be the worst neighbour. “Did you just open a bag of crisps? It’s 10pm I’m trying to sleep” get a life 🤔😂
ElenaSt · 11/04/2022 23:57

Please consider this as a plausible scenario -

Marmite17 · 12/04/2022 00:15

First thought would be that one of your children let someone in.

Marmite17 · 12/04/2022 00:19

@ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm

Has anyone who's making all the phone police / phone 101 remarks actually tried to report anything to the police in the last 5 or so years ? I fear any attempt to report a mysterious non burglary would not end well.
A mystery burglary where nothing was taken but an expensive item left behind.
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