Local burglary, scared, ideas to prepare for self defence in a night time break in?

[AMalteserForYourThoughts]

I know that looking at stuff like this at 11pm at night is probably a bad idea...

Locally an elderly man who lives alone near to me had two men break into their home at night when he was in bed. It has totally terrified me and I was thinking what would I do if that happened to me.

So if you are in your home at night upstairs and the alarm goes off - what can you do to prepare for this situation?

After some googling around, it seems that

most likely best bets are a blinding high lumens torch to blind the attacker - a head torch I was thinking for hands free to keep by the bed if the alarm goes off.

I've also found some self defence sprays that combine a horrible smell to distract and confuse them, dye and uv for identification. But not sure that would have presence of mind or confidence to use it.

Rape alarm - but not sure adds to the house alarm.

Anyone got any other thoughts. I'm not sure that I would think to call the police first partly through panic and also partly because false alarms (spider over the sensor type thing) do happen.

Look at your downstairs lay out. In both our current and last home, we were able to fit internal locks to the doors from the hallway. So when we go to bed the only way to get upstairs would be to get in through the front door or break through an internal door.

We've been broken in twice. Both through the conservatory doors. Alarms set off and they ran off with very little.

Knowing we have the alarms to wake us and the internal locks to delay or prevent anyone getting upstairs is a huge comfort.

Pretty certain she's only joking!

I like the decoy handbag idea. My car keys are downstairs right my the door - any burglar can fill their boots for all I care, rather than come upstairs to where my baby sleeps. It's probably worth about £50 anyway, I'd be more annoyed about the car seats inside!

Hide and call the police. Do not engage, leave the house if you can.

Lie absolutely still, breathe normally, wait for them to go away.
Engaging in any way is a horrendous idea.
In the meantime ensure your house is as secure as possible.

House alarm panic button.
That you can reach from bed easily.

Some good tips here, esp the door wedge.

I would also add, think about the outside of your home. Burglars will often visit the street for a couple of days first to work out which ones are the 'easy' homes. So obviously all doors and windows need to be shut and locked, but also:

• Don't leave tools in an outdoor shed. Wooden sheds are easy to break into, locked or not. Tools go in garages or attics.
• Lay down gravel outside rather than tarmac/flags.
• Put a 'beware of the dog' sign on the gate/fence. Similarly consider a Krav Maga or BJJ sticker on your car (if it's left on a drive).
• When installing extensions or conservatories, make sure the roofs are not flat and there are no helpful windowsills on the outside.
• Have visible cameras set up, even if they are fake.

Regarding the suggestions of keeping some kind of weapon to hand like golf clubs or rolling pins, be careful that you can reasonably claim there was a legitimate reason for them to be lying under your bed and you just "happened" upon them when you grabbed them and defended yourself.

Evidence of equipment being kept in your bedroom for the purposes of self-defence will increase the risk of you being in hot water if you injure or kill your attacker. For instance having a knife or baseball bat under your bed will be seen as suspicious if there's no other reason than it made you feel safer. Stick to things that might legitimately be there like a heavy Maglite torch or dumbbells.

If you're attacked in your kitchen and grab a knife to fight them off, that has a good chance of being seen as reasonable - there's no planning involved, you grabbed what was to hand. If you must keep knives in the bedroom then they should be shut away in a box for storage to at least give the semblence of a legitimate reason for them being there.

My self defence teacher suggested a Maglite torch to keep by the bed. Useful in an emergency and heavy if you needed a weapon at close quarters. Also - and this important - you are not lying in wait with a weapon, you have a good reason for it being there.

Aldi occasionally do a recordable cctv camera kit. Spec wise it’s really good.

Most break ins nowadays are for the car parked on the drive. So leave your car keys somewhere obvs and let them take the car. It's insureds and that way you will not cause a confrontation or retaliation.

Other reason for break ins tends to be if the perps know there is something high value in the house I.e safe, jewellery, withdrawn cash for a tradesman you need to pay so be careful who knows your business.

There’s some great ideas in Home Alone! You could set up some traps

My mum's friend had intruders come into the bedroom and demand the car keys.
It can happen unfortunately. I would have been scared stiff. I'm looking for advice on here because we get regular burglary attempts (they try the doors and shook the garage door violently) and the cars get broken into in spates. It's been better since new neighbors installed CCTV.

I sleep with a massive dog as a door stop!

Prior to this I did have an overactive imagination (or watched too much criminal minds) but I no longer worry there’s someone hiding under the bed or sneaking about as the dog would certainly tell me about it!

This! We were broken into x 3 in our old house. Once when we were in bed, running downstairs in my pjs shouting seemed to get them to run! Since that one all keys on table in hall and bag on chair in kitchen, take it and go please but leave my family alone.

Moved now to a very quiet village and feel so much safer

Always wonder about people who hide keys etc, burglars will rummage!

Oddly enough this is one of the reason I’m tempted by a Cane Corso dog (that and I absolutely love the breed) my current dogs would open the door and show them where my car keys and laptop are…

Its scary the thought of someone trying to break in and at the moment rural crime in my area is through the roof, lots of heating oil being stolen, and out buildings so far I’ve only heard of 2 actual break ins.

The police are not interested in our area

we have a ring front door bell and ring cameras & alarms dotted about the house and garden so we can monitor what’s going on.

All windows and doors are checked before bed

Dh also has a highly desired car for stealing, so that’s covered by the cameras at the front and the keys are kept in a special box in the kitchen cupboard, it’s also fitted with a tracker (he was followed home one day and ended up driving around for an hour to lose them)

Lock the door, shout < two men’s names> there’s someone in the house, then phone 999. Our alarm so set so every light in the house comes on. We also have a plan to escape out of the window if they try get in our bedroom, and as a very last resort a cricket bat under the bed.

This happened to me and without any thought I jumped out of bed and asked what the fuck he thought he was doing (total adrenaline just woke up by seeing a torch in my hallway). Luckily he wasn’t violent and ran off. Still nicked a few things.

I said afterwards it was lucky really because if he’d said “sit down I have a knife” I would have done so and it would have been a lot more traumatic.

there seems to be a lot of cameras in my neighbourhood but I really don’t know how much they help, they all wear masks now because they know everyone has cameras. Even if they do get a picture of their face the police don’t have time to do any investigation.

I moved house after that and got an alarm because at least I won’t be woken up by them outside my bedroom again. However when it went off once as a false alarm (power cut maybe?) it’s not like I called the police and I couldn’t listen to see if anyone was actually downstairs I had to go downstairs and turn the alarm off to asses the situation, and it’s so loud you run down unprepared again!

i considered getting a camera but I thought what if burglars are trying my front door multiple times a week to see if I’ve left it unlocked? I won’t feel any better.

It’s crazy how some people won’t take this advice though.

PIL think I am crazy for leaving car keys and purse where they would be easily stolen. Posted upthread how I was burgled twice in a previous home, they just took those (and the car) and left.

PIL take everything upstairs in their room at night as in FIL words, ”I’d fight someone to the death over my belongings.” Like any possession is worth your life!

I just don’t understand that mentality at all. It took me ages to get dh on board when I met him (we weren’t together when I was burgled). He had the same attitude of hide everything, thought I was crazy too.

He even used to go on about how his friend was mugged and just handed over his wallet and phone, how he would rather be stabbed than do that. So don’t hand it over, you get stabbed and they take it anyway…. good logic there.

Thankfully, he doesn’t think that way anymore.

(Although, there’s no one who would want to take my battered up, 15 year old 107 with dents and rust all over it. They’d be doing me a favour if they did).

As I’ve said earlier as another poster as said to
do not have baseball bats under the bed or even a knife there too it’s a criminal offence and can get you jailed.

baseball bats or cricket well any kind of bat needs the ball with to be legal.

vases are a better option if they do enter the room.

Best thing to do is lock your door and call the police. Be careful regarding legalities! If you keep a knife or golf club under your bed or pillow for the purpose of hitting a burglar thats premeditated and you can get in trouble (and you're more likely to get hit with them yourself). If you hit them with a torch or hairdryer or something that was just to hand when you got startled thats self defence.

Most burglars don't want to come face to face with you and will run if they realise you're awake. People generally only get hurt when they try to stop them getting away.

If you ever get a Cane Corso introduce him or her to the police tell them your training methods and train every day. They might think your nuts but it helps for responsibly owned dogs. They secretly love it.

Our local police station knows our dogs a giant breed as well. I made a point when moving in to do this because we live rurally. Think sheep and cows and I told them they are trained and rarely escape and they know there green cross code and no I’m not joking here.

They’ve been out to see them too. There was a spate of sheep being chased and they came to ask. Not mine, but another villager who thought it was ok. He got hit with a heavy fine from the farmer and police.

@Dullardmullard

Do you have a Cane Corso? Or another large breed

Thats a good idea about the local police

A giant breed aka Great Danes but I’m also another that loves the cane corso

people think of scooby doo with mine seriously they are not, bitches are more loyal dogs are goofy but will protect you.

I don't think any one has mentioned it but you must make sure that your door locks are anti-snap. I was broken into at 4am in 2021 by my back door lock being snapped - it took them seconds. Fortunately I heard them downstairs and when I switched the lights on they legged it. They only got my handbag and the purse in it but they were clearly after my car keys, which they hadn't found when I disturbed them.

I now have bolts on my back door and lean an ironing board against it so I would immediately hear if anyone opened the door - only thing it's used for!