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Original poster

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:
GrimDamnFanjo · 10/04/2022 12:02

Well someone will miss their phone!
I'm surprised it didn't ring or beep in the meantime....

WinterSpringSummerorFall · 10/04/2022 12:03

Further amateur detective work... did boyfriend sit on sofa before going to bed?

EatsQuorn · 10/04/2022 12:05

@Gwenhwyfar

Not at all , you keep the lock and change back if you move . Use your replacement lock in the next rental.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 10/04/2022 12:06

I am fairly certain the answer lies with one of your DC. My parents would swear blind we never brought anyone into the house at night without their knowledge, but they would be wrong - especially in my brother's case. I had many "Well, who is that in the bathroom then?" moments. It was never a burglar.

Feckauras · 10/04/2022 12:08

Could someone have been living in your loft? I know someone who soon discovered someone had been living in her loft watching her for months.

tempester28 · 10/04/2022 12:10

Someone obviously crashed on your sofa.

A friend returned from a year abroad as a teenager
Went home and straight to the toilet. Heard people speaking Spanish upstairs and remembered that during infrequent calls to her mum she had said that they will rent the house out when they move.

They had moved and rented it to a venuzuelan family without telling her. She swiftly left without them seeing her and went straight to the phone box.

Could be a drunk previous tenant in the wrong place. Sounds like not a burglar

HollowTalk · 10/04/2022 12:11

I'm dying to know whose phone it is!

Lockheart · 10/04/2022 12:12

No-one is living in the loft for Christ sakes Hmm

Either one of your DDs or the boyfriend has picked up someone else's phone at the pub by accident, one of them let someone else crash on the sofa, or an ex-tenant / friend of ex-tenant has forgotten they've moved and let themselves in for a nap.

Get DDs / boyfriend to check if any of their friends or colleagues phones are missing. Keep the mystery phone charged and see if anyone rings. Change the locks.

Dbank · 10/04/2022 12:12

As suggested, pull the SIM and see if anyone recognised the number. Also check does it connect to your wi-fi, if so it sounds likely it's owned by someone who knows you or a family member and has been given the code.

Slightly longer shot, but if you suspect you know who it is try walking passed their house and see if it connects to their wi-fi. Or try the local pubs / bars which would indicate it's someone local.

OhRiRi · 10/04/2022 12:16

How old are the younger DC? Could one of them be sneaking someone in? A phone with a gaming picture on the background sounds like it could be a younger teenage boy? It's the kind of thing my 14 year old nephew has as his lock screen

Maray1967 · 10/04/2022 12:17

I’d advise getting a physical bolt or something so that someone with key access /ability to break the lock still can’t get in. We have a bolt on the front door and a patlock on the back French doors . We just have to make sure we don’t lock anyone out by accident!

TigerLilyTail · 10/04/2022 12:17

Or just leave it for the police to deal with as they have already said they’ll come round.

Loginmystery · 10/04/2022 12:18

@MrsElm

Why are you tampering with the phone, ie taking the sim out and trying it in your phone, if the police are coming out to look at it Confused
The police aren’t going to do much with it. They’ll have a quick look. They’re not going to investigate this much.
ThreeRingCircus · 10/04/2022 12:18

You can usually find ICE info when the phone is locked, do as a PP said and Google the make of phone and how to find ICE contacts.

I would strongly suspect this is something to do with your DC too. My parents had zero clue when we snuck someone into the house.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 10/04/2022 12:20

@Snoopfroggyfrogg

Could the BF have picked up someone else's phone by mistake in the pub, perhaps forgetting his was in his pocket, and left it on the side?
This is my thought! Any of the children picking up a phone that wasn’t there’s
Loginmystery · 10/04/2022 12:21

If a guest or family member had an alarm going off at 5am on a Sunday morning believe me they wouldn’t be left to sleep peacefully because they’ve only been in for a few hours. I’d be raging if I was the one who had to locate it and silence it. I’m important too you see. I work and need rest.

Loginmystery · 10/04/2022 12:23

@Loginmystery

If a guest or family member had an alarm going off at 5am on a Sunday morning believe me they wouldn’t be left to sleep peacefully because they’ve only been in for a few hours. I’d be raging if I was the one who had to locate it and silence it. I’m important too you see. I work and need rest.
Sorry that was in reply to the person saying how terrible it was that your husband woke the boyfriend and threw the phone in the room. Because they’d only been in a few hours.
User48751490 · 10/04/2022 12:23

I agree with others, it's one of your kids who is responsible for this. Doesn't seem that sinister.

Kennykenkencat · 10/04/2022 12:25

I know this sounds strange but do you have gas central heating?

I ask because if you do then I would get it checked out.
Part of carbon monoxide poisoning is opening windows or doors in your sleep to let air in. You don’t know you are doing it but it is your bodies way of trying to save itself.

I remember this from years ago when I was working in an office.
A woman who lived alone was convinced that someone was coming into her house each night and opening her bedroom windows as she would wake up freezing cold with all the windows open each morning.

Someone told her to check her gas boiler as it was a sign of carbon monoxide poisoning. Turned out her boiler had got a blockage.

Can’t really explain the phone but I have my own strange incidence with a phone. Or it could be somebody picked it up thinking it was theirs and hadn’t realised they actually took someone else’s phone. Turned off does it look like anyone else’s phone.

GeorgesMarvelousCalpol · 10/04/2022 12:26

Very odd indeed. Hope you get an answer!

MoiraNotRuby · 10/04/2022 12:27

Have you got any secret rooms under your house a la Parasite?

I reckon its something to do with landlord or previous tenants.

dworky · 10/04/2022 12:28

@ElenaSt

Drunk person followed them home and tried the door they hadn’t shut properly and crashed out on sofa leaving phone. Woke up to pee and realised they needed to leave and go to their own home. Couldn’t find phone as it had dropped down sofa so they just left.

Phone was ringing as they tried it later to see if they could find it.

That’s the scenario I’m getting rather a than an intruder with bad intent.

But why would door be open after husband had located ringing phone when door was shut?
Planesmistakenforstars · 10/04/2022 12:29

Someone has accidentally picked up a stranger's phone from the pub/work, and the door has been left unlocked.

dworky · 10/04/2022 12:30

@OhRiRi

How old are the younger DC? Could one of them be sneaking someone in? A phone with a gaming picture on the background sounds like it could be a younger teenage boy? It's the kind of thing my 14 year old nephew has as his lock screen
Why leave the door open to alert parents though?
OakPine · 10/04/2022 12:31

I'd guess it is a friend of one of your children.
I'd probably not initially think that someone is living in a secret room accessed from a panel in the bathroom. Or the loft!

What did the police say?