Should I tell the police?

[PonyPals]

This is more of what would you do..
So my dad is in construction and he started a job today where he has to replace a floor in a garage.
Whilst ripping up the floor he found a semi hidden door behind a big mirror that was hanging up on a wall at the very back of the garage.
The door was half the normal size and when he looked in he saw that it was a small space with no windows but a mattress a tv and a book. It also had a vent leading out of it and the tube was across the garage roof.. we think for air (does that makes sense?)
So what do you think the room could be for?
Client is a man maybe in his 70s. Lives alone.
Should we report this to the police or are we letting our imagination run away?

My first piece of advice if you suspected illegal activities were taking place would be don't post about it on a public forum, but there you go!

I can see the conversation with the police officer now:
"Who else knows about this, sir?"
"Only my boss and my daughter. Oh, and my daughter told hundreds of strangers on the internet as well. But she name-changed so I assume it doesn't count?"

FWIW, I would be calling 101 or taking pictures and popping to the local police station for advice as it is weird and the kind of thing you see in crime novels/TV shows.

Sinkhole in a couple's garage uncovers a SECRET ROOM filled with children's toys, a handbag, hair curlers and a mysterious letter - and there could be another hidden basement hidden under their house

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5276881/Sinkhole-Idaho-couples-garage-uncovers-secret-room.html

Watch his response when it’s mentioned and then decide. Could be nothing.

Maybe a local homeless person has set it up for themselves

If we're talking criminal activity then it's just as likely the old boy himself is the victim, and is the usual occupant of that room when the criminals who have illegally invaded his house are in residence. At 70+ he is a vulnerable person.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckooing
That is another possible reason you should tell the police about this and not ignore it.

A hidden room with that kind of stuff in just isn't normal though is it. And if there is a slim chance it was used for something bad then the police should be informed. Just in case there is that slim chance.

There was little Paislee Shultis who was found age 6 in a tiny secret room behind the stairs. She had been missing 2 years.

And there was Michael Dunn, the sick fuck who kept young girls imprisoned in a small hide space behind his fridge.

Lets hope its nothing like this and was just some weird room the owner liked to sit and read in.

This.....

So many really, really,worrying stuff gets missed... As people are doing their own armchair assessment....

'No it's nothing /no its just an x y and z/ Johns OK, he's harmless...

(josef fritzl who kept and raped his daughter locked in his basement for years.... His local neighbourhood thought he was a real pilar of the community

IT IS NOT THE PUBLICS JOB TO ASSESS....!!

It may be nothing, or it may be the missing part of a puzzle....

The police /social services may well have vague Intel on this person... This may the bit they need.

If only more folk went to police /social servkces.

Us and the OPs role is purely to report.

It seems to be a man thing loads of videos on You Tube about how to make a secret room.

What is the book and what kind of TV?

This is a live construction site. The project may or may not be notifiable. Report anonymously to the health and safety executive. They can attend with the policy and shut the site down to investigate

I agree with IamtheDevilsAvocado. We cannot assess. It's extremely odd, there could also be other hidden spaces. I would definitely report this and then I'd have taken due care.

Why is every assuming the owner is aware of this little room? It won’t be the first person having a squatter in a part of the house they never use.

Didn’t security staff found a full “flat for 4 people” in a little room in a mall recently? They had been there for 4 years!

It's quite a common story in the media.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8056925/Man-thought-squirrels-attic-finds-28-year-old-homeless-man-living-there.html

It's in brackets...he's a PO.

The completion over reaction on this thread, and people making 2+2=5 is absolutely hilarious.

if the room hadn’t been used for ages, why was there a book in it

It's a well known fact book disintegrate over time!

.....the book could have been there decades........

As for the TV, older than you think!
Wasn't there an episode of time team where Phil dug up a TV from roman times?

Calling Miss Marple ...

OP why didn’t your husband simply ask the owner? Then he would probably have got an entirely innocent and boring explanation, rather than you sparking 10 pages of wild speculation on here.

This thread is like one of those Taboola ads you see on the Mail Online and the like - A man found a secret door in an abandoned house in the middle of the woods - AND YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT HE FOUND THERE. And after clicking next for 30 pages or so you wonder wtf you are doing down another internet rabbit hole.

I'm laughing so hard I've nearly choked on my dinner.😂

Now there’s another thread about a contractor taking photos in someone’s home 😏

I'm off there - cracking toast Grommit !

Please do not spread this misinformation. The police will wonky arrest people where they think it was intentional. A concerned person needing an opinion about something weird will be absolutely fine

It's not really anything to do with her husband when it's her dad who's doing the work...