Who has ever been burgled? And how?

[Martacus]

Who has ever been burgled? What did they take? How did they get in? What time of day - or night - was it?

Twice - first time as a student. They got in through the upstairs open bathroom window. Police thought it was a child as the gap was so small. Second time was about 10 years ago - through patio door. Police it called it a “snap lock”, apparently it’s a technique that’s passed on in prisons and there will be a spate when some local oik is released.

Years ago in a shared house.
No idea when access was gained but it was via a broken window.
Not a lot was taken as no one had anything much.

Once when I was a child.
During the day while the house was empty. Broke in through the back doors.

About 10 years ago, in our maisonette: we had one of those older doors, and as with a PP they used a coat hanger and snagged the handle down. While we slept. Grabbed a couple of laptops, our change pot, my handbag and car keys and used my very ancient but beloved Ford Fiesta to make a getaway! 😳

Police & SOCO arrived promptly, insurance was fantastic, and through some fluke my lovely car was recovered in tact. But what upset me was losing the personal items in my handbag: photos of the kids and a little drawing they had made me for Mother’s Day which was to me priceless. They also got my passport: we were due to go on holiday in a week’s time and had to cancel.

Police later phoned to sign off on the case: thought they knew who it was but no evidence.

We were burgled one night when we were asleep, we had left a small window open during a heatwave and they had managed to get their hands in and open another larger nearby window.

They took DVDs, cash, my handbag and my car, along with XHs car keys.

Police and insurance were brilliant. My bag was found a mile away but the purse was missing. The car was found abandoned a month later when someone realised that it had been parked up and hadn't moved for a few weeks so reported it to police.

Horrible, horrible experience, knowing that someone was in the house whilst we slept - DS was 4 at the time.

Once, sadly. They kicked the door in (it was a detached cottage with nobody around us) and stole a few thousand quid’s worth of jewellery, including my great grandma’s engagement ring.
Luckily they didn’t find another box with some really sentimental stuff in it, it was clearly quite a rushed job.
We installed CCTV all around the place, but it was too little too late. Moved out shortly after.

Many many years ago, in London. We’d done up our home for sale and moved lots of personal things into the garage. We went away for the weekend and the garage was rammed open and all the bikes and anything of value was taken, including the inside of a speaker and a very old broken horse saddle which was odd.

Someone had clearly been watching us which was unsettling (the bikes were valuable) but the bit that upset me was that they’d thrown all my photos over the floor. Many were ruined.

These accounts are sad. Can I ask, those who left windows and doors open, did the insurance company still pay out? My FIL insists that the insurance would be invalid but surely that isn’t the case.

I walked in on burglars in a house converted into flats - they hadn't yet got into any of the flats when I disrupted them and they left. I realised what they'd been up to, called the police who turned up within minutes, gave a description of the burglars - one of the officers thought they sounded like known and rather prolific criminals in the area. They were arrested and I correctly ID'd one in a police line up (done on a computer, not people standing in a line like they do on TV). I was impressed how much effort the police put in given they hadn't even stolen anything but I think they had previous. The one I had identified pleaded guilty just before the court case started.

Twice. The first time was my studio flat in London while I was away on holiday. Door kicked in, they didn’t get much but I never felt the same about the place afterwards and moved out as soon as I could.
The second time was on holiday in the Algarve with a bunch of friends (pre-kids). We’d all been drinking and went to bed without closing the shutters on the patio door. Burglar crowbarred it open and got away with handbags, wallets, tablets, phones from all 8 of us. Worryingly we were sleeping on the ground floor - didn’t wake up but always wondered if they actually came into our room when we were asleep.

I was burgled when I was a single mum. Had been stupid and left key in back door lock. They took a computer, TV, DVD player, jewellery and champagne. Nothing hugely valuable but the jewellery had sentimental value so that pissed me off, and the champagne had been saved up using points so that annoyed me as well!

I've never been burgled since then, despite moving to London and living in high crime areas there for 20 years.

I was at home alone on a late summers evening and they pulled up the garden furniture and climbed on top of the flat roof of the extension and in through the back bedroom window. Didn't take anything as the house was literally all packed up ready for me to move but my god it scared the shit out of me. I could hear them up there and I thought my heart was going to explode...thankfully the police arrived in less than a minute but by then they had gone. It's left me with a real phobia and paranoia now.

Three times (lived SE London)

1. Two guys broke in front door when we were in bed, got into front room and snatched handbag off side before hearing us get up - I ran downstairs in nightdress without thinking and they legged it. DH chased them down road but didn't catch them.

1. During day, pulled up outside house and looked up at bedroom window and saw someone rummaging through wardrobe. Jumped out of car and ran in house and they legged it out back - house tipped upside down. Devastating but not much taken.

1. Crowbar to the door in middle of night but didn't manage to get in, we heard and turned lights on, scared them off.

First time we didn't have deadbolts, after that new front door & security lights but still got in...

After that we left car keys in a pot on sideboard in hall with the hope that if anyone got in again they'd take the keys and leave without coming up stairs or searching further.

Moved away last year to a small village where we feel safe.

It's horrible knowing someone has rummaged through your belongings.

Twice.
First time a babysitter undid some French windows to let her boyfriend burgle us whilst we were asleep. Nice.
Second time again while we were asleep; they took my boyfriend's car keys and took his car. He had insulin in vials in the car, and needles (nearly 30 years ago). Police were useless and we toured the estate till we found the car and took it back. Insulin and needles were gone tho. We always wondered if they'd injected it...

Once, during the afternoon while we were both out at work. They chucked a piece of metal garden furniture through the patio doors. As we commuted by train both sets of car keys to the car we had bought four days before were in the kitchen, so they got that. And they took all my jewellery - from christening bracelets, to my 18th present from my parents to recent gifts from my husband. I was really upset about that. The burglars got about £40k worth of stuff for ten minutes "work" - a neighbour's camera caught them but not well enough to be useful to identify them.

The insurance company was actually pretty good. The values they gave us were fair and they got the door repaired, although it did take a few weeks as it was an unusual size.

I was asleep upstairs and they broke in via the front door to steal money from the meter.

There wasn't any money in it, I came downstairs in the morning to see the front and cupboard doors wide open.

I did not sleep well that night (lived alone)... not there any more!

In a rented house. The middle of the day when I was out, burglars had got over a wall, smashed the glass kitchen door with a brick and taken my laptop, cash, camera and various other items. The police never caught them.

Once, just after new year, 2018. Daytime, while we were both out at work - we think mid-afternoon as the neighbours later said that heard a bang but didn't see anything. DH had lost his front door key, so I had left him mine and gone out the back way for once - had locked the back (patio) door but not the back garden gates, which could only be locked from the inside. They obviously walked straight through the gate, then put a rock through the patio door.

They were clearly just after small things - stole the drawer from the bedside cabinet with all my jewellery in, turned out all the underwear drawers presumably looking for more. But left all the brand new Christmas stuff that was lying around, including our massive new TV, tablets, a random credit card that was left out etc. Police said they reckoned they knew who did it, but not enough evidence to arrest them.

Our office was broken into via a smashed window and they stole a couple of iPads and an iPhone. The idiot took our sim out and replaced it with his own but the phone still had our Apple ID linked to it so we were able to trace him quite easily with Find My iPhone. The police were quite excited watching him, following his location until they finally stopped and searched him and recovered the phone. He had already sold on the iPads but as they were locked to our account they were useless. Coincidentally one of the iPad recipients (a local junkie) lived next door to an employees parents and the junkie had tried to sell it to the parents so they police paid them a visit too and got the iPad back.

Top floor flat, while we were out during the day, went into roof space via hatch in communal hall then came down through our living room ceiling. We were students so they took fuck all. Traumatised the budgie though.

Twice.

Once when I was a little and we were out at my uncle's funeral. My parents ran a business and my mum had all the cash for wages ready in her locked desk. They got in through a unlocked small back window. Took the wages and all of my mums jewellery as she had left it in the bathroom and wasn't wearing much for the funeral. Lost her wedding and engagement rings amongst that. We think it was someone through the business who knew we were out all day.

Second time at our students house. They kicked in the front door over the Christmas holidays. Took stereos, the video player (yup I'm old) and a box of costume jewellery. Very common to happen in student houses at Xmas apparently as guaranteed to be empty.
Many of our other friends had burglaries during university.

@hartof Came home from work at 6pm and the house had been absolutely ransacked. They got in by licking the bottom panel out of our upvc door. They took everything, it took me a moment when I walked in the house to realise the curtains were shut and then the tv was gone. They had emptied fitted wardrobes in our rooms and you couldn't see an inch of floor. It was awful I'll never forget that feeling of not being safe in my home.

I could have written this almost word for word. They had tried to take the panel out of my back door and when that didn't work they smashed the window and got in. Curtains had been closed and it was November so dark when I got home. Upstairs was a mess with everything pulled out of drawers and wardrobes. The only thing they took was jewellery, including all sentimental pieces given to me. Police had no officers to come out so didn't see anyone until SOCO came the next morning. Insurance were great and sent an emergency locksmith that evening. Police completely useless throughout.

They had also broken into my NDNs house and busted his patio doors to get in. Stole gaming stuff from them so clearly they knew that we were both out at work and nobody was in.

We had the same thing happen, we saw him on our internal CCTV cameras, he stole everything he could:- jewellery, paperwork, electronics ( including the TVs) shoes (designer) bags, money and lots of other bits and pieces.

The house looked like a bomb had gone off, I got home from work first and the 999 police officer was fantastic, socco came out the next day and from our CCTV they knew who he was ( career criminal) and he got sent down as he had done another 50 ish burglaries besides ours, I couldn’t recover from the burglary though and we moved house 1.5 years later!

Once at uni in a shared house during the afternoon.

Idiot housemate left for a lecture and didnt lock back door.Took laptops, tv, speakers...friend had just come back from break.They emptied her suitcase full of clothes onto the floor and took it to carry the loot in!

I was actually asleep in downstairs bedroom sleeping off the night before...woke up with my door open so they'd obviously seen me there in bed and legged it. Police never caught them.