Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be worried about my sister and the face at the window.

155 replies

WhataMissMap · 27/01/2019 23:34

My sister lives in a large house at the top of a longish drive in a very quiet residential area.

She was sitting watching TV with her curtains open, this evening. She often does this as she is not overlooked by neighbours.

She happened to glance up to see a man staring at her through the window. She jumped up and he ran away.

She then saw two men running away down her road. She switched the lights off and watched from a bedroom window. The two men appeared again and stealthily walked back up her road keeping close to the hedges and started to approach her house. They must have caught sight of her in the window and they ran away.

She is really frightened, I live a few hundred miles away and obviously can’t get to her tonight. I wonder was it an attempted burglary or a peeping Tom or a silly prank. I wonder how seriously we should treat this.
She is alone with her teenage son. It’s a very low crime area.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

OP posts:
Aquamarine1029 · 27/01/2019 23:52

She shouldn't have too many noise making devices on!! She won't be able to hear anything!

NewMinouMinou · 27/01/2019 23:53

Have you spoken to her in the last few mins?

Original poster
WhataMissMap · 27/01/2019 23:54

My DN is a swotty type of boy. He’s never in any trouble at school. He studies hard, plays rugby and doesn’t go out much other than that.

My DS said it was a man’s face at the window not a boy. The two figures she saw running were men not boys too. So I don’t think it can have anything to do with my DN.

The police are going to patrol the area tonight.

OP posts:
Mummymummums · 27/01/2019 23:55

Do you mean there were three in total?
Very worrying that they returned after seeing she'd clocked them.

Mummymummums · 27/01/2019 23:55

Have the pics been and gone already then??

Mummymummums · 27/01/2019 23:56

*police not pics

InglouriousBasterd · 28/01/2019 00:01

Bloody hell I’d shit myself. Hideous that they started to come back after suspecting she was a lone female - I hope the police take it seriously

Slothcuddles · 28/01/2019 00:02

That’s my worst nightmare. It’s why I don’t have the curtains open in the night. I bet your sister is petrified, I’m glad she’s called the police.

Original poster
WhataMissMap · 28/01/2019 00:03

She saw one face at the window.
two men in the road.
Why would just one be staring in? I wonder where the other was? Why did they come back after she had seen the face at the window. Surely if they were hanging around they will see the police car and leave.

My DS says she has never heard of a robbery in her road before and she has lived there for over 10 years.

She has dummy security cameras , put up by my DN some time ago when he fancied himself as a cctv expert. She is going to have them fixed properly this week.

I don’t think any of us are going to sleep tonight. Thank you for all the support.

OP posts:
Original poster
WhataMissMap · 28/01/2019 00:06

The police spoke to her and said they would send a patrol car around the area. They were very kind and reassuring my DS said. She’s waiting for them to call now.

OP posts:
Kleptronic · 28/01/2019 00:11

Try not to fret (I know! So easily said!) but usually burglars want an easy mark. That is not your sister. She is alert and aware and in the house, and has contacted the police, so it is most probable they won't be back. Flowers

ForOldLandsEye · 28/01/2019 00:11

Hope everythings ok with your sister OP. Maybe they thought the house was unoccupied as the car is in the garage. It does seem strange that they came back even when rumbled though. Did she give a description or was it too dark? Can she ask her closest neighbours in the morning if they have cctv which captured anything?

CandleConcerto · 28/01/2019 00:13

What’s the situation with her ex partner?

iLoveFoood · 28/01/2019 00:14

No other explanation only attempted robbery

Grace212 · 28/01/2019 00:15

have any of the neighbours seen them?

Onglue · 28/01/2019 00:18

This also happened to me in a student house. We'd just moved in and I had a bedroom on the ground floor. I was reading in bed and my curtains weren't shut properly, and then I noticed a figure stood watching me though the window Shock

At the time I just thought it was a local pervert, and did nothing except shut my curtains properly. Which I think shows how accustomed I become by the age of 20 to dodgy male behaviour Sad

I hope the police reassure your sister, and hopefully the men will fuck off and not come back.

Italiangreyhound · 28/01/2019 00:20

Hope all will be OK. Thanks

cananybodyfindmesomeonetolove · 28/01/2019 00:21

How very scary for her and you. It would be worth upping security, unfortunately they will probably try and come back. Keep vat keys somewhere easily accessible so that if they're after her car they take the keys quickly rather than having to search for them. Also, check that her door locks are not the type that are easily 'snappable'.

BusySnipingOnCallOfDuty · 28/01/2019 00:21

My friend was burgled on Saturday, she has security but it obviously wasn't enough. It's knocked her for six, she lives alone. It's the time of year when people are more likely to have brand new things, so they will be scouting and these sound like opportunists. I hope they don't come back and the police arrive soon, they can go round and check nothing is open

ILoveMaxiBondi · 28/01/2019 00:22

Horrible.

Make sure she goes round and double checks every single window and door is locked. Get her son to go round in the opposite direction so they’re double checking in case any windows are missed. If she has security lights outside tell her to switch them on. Keep her phone charged and beside her. Tell her to put something that will make a racket if disturbed at each door. Get her son to sleep in her room or vice Versa and a chair against the door. Tell her to leave her car keys by either the front or back door but not visible from outside. If they are looking for cars and break in she wants them in and out as quick as possible. She doesn’t want them to have to come looking for the keys and get into her room.

cananybodyfindmesomeonetolove · 28/01/2019 00:24

*car keys, not vat keys ffs!

Original poster
WhataMissMap · 28/01/2019 00:31

The police called. They were very nice indeed. Told her all the things that have been mentioned on this thread. The dog barked his head off at them! He’s hopeless not a peep out of him when the men were outside.

My dh has offered to drive over now as he has a day off tomorrow but my DS has refused so she is feeling a bit calmer. It’s a terribly cold and stormy night where she is and so I hope that puts the men off staying around. It just seems odd to be creeping around on a bleak night without a car. So maybe it was her car they were after.
She never puts much petrol in it and so they would have got a shock. Whenever I get in it the petrol warning light is always on.

OP posts:
Loftyswops988 · 28/01/2019 00:33

In the flat I lived in as a student i was paranoid as this weird guy had been hanging around and i was left in the flat alone a few days over easter while my flatmates were gone and they told me to put a bell on the back of the door handle, so if anyone tried it i'd hear it!

Tinkerbell89 · 28/01/2019 00:35

Does she have any sensor lights around the property? If she doesn't may be putting some up around the house and entrance to property would be a deterrent. They would come on if anyone approaches the property and could scare people away and also alert her to anyone outside. Hope she's ok. Probably off the chance burglars.

ColdNeverBotheredMeAnyway · 28/01/2019 00:39

Good idea to keep the car keys somewhere easily accessible. My DF has recently become obsessed with this and takes his keys up to bed with him... as if it would be better to have a burglar come into his room looking for them rather than let him have them easily!

Hope your sister is ok