Sorry for not coming back, yesterday was stressful and as I work nights and normally sleep in the day, but haven't really slept since Friday (!) once everything was 'sorted' I just crashed out in bed.
First, letting agent came round with some contractor. Had a chat, he looked at the door, and then I was told that the locksmith would be over later. I was also told that Crazy Tenant would be removed and housed elsewhere today (as in yesterday).
Then I went to the police station. Honestly there isn't much to say about that. They didn't ask anything they haven't already, and those calls are all recorded rather than scribbled down based on an interpretation of what I've said. But whatever.
Then I came back and shortly afterwards the locksmith arrived, who fitted a deadbolt which is fab, and basically since then I've tried to fitfully sleep with Prison Break being binged watched in between my one hour snoozes.
I assume Crazy Tenant has left. I haven't heard movement upstairs for a while, I doubt anyone will tell me when he's gone - the agent isn't proactive like that.
I know that people have formed their own opinions about me supposedly being 'difficult' but I'm not sure you completely get the circumstances. I was still in shock when I wrote the OP, and it's really difficult to know when you're writing how much detail to include, and how much is not necessary and makes it too long, but I'll try and fill in some gaps/remind you of the sequence of events which influenced my decision making process.
As soon as Crazy Tenant left, I pushed the door shut, noticed the lock was broken (obviously) and called 999.
Dispatch asked me some questions:
- When did this happen (just now, he's now pacing upstairs, I can hear him and I've got no idea if he's going to come back, I've now got no lock on the front door and this was unprovoked with no warning and he's clearly volatile)
- Can you hide in another room? (It's a studio flat, the only other room is the bathroom and that doesn't have any lock on it)
- Can you leave the flat? (Not really, my option is to run out into the street and go where at 7am on a Saturday dressed in pyjamas? My other neighbour has just texted and said he heard screaming, so now he's on his way down).
- What's brought this on? (Nothing, I've met the guy once and introduced myself. He knocked on my door persistently (but not threatening) at 1:30 am one night a few weeks ago, and I didn't answer, but nothing since. [I then explained about the transient population of that flat and often that the tenants were vulnerable/drink/drugs etc and that it was clearly escalating, from knocking to smashing the door in and nothing in between].
I genuinely thought someone would come out. Especially as she'd told me to hide - you kind of get the impression that you'd be hiding until the police turned up, no? But 6 hours later I get a call, more questions, saying well you're on the list, might be today, might not etc etc.
I kicked myself a bit mentioning my other (nice) neighbour at the time. Maybe they'd de-escalated priority because of that. But it occurred to me that if I'd stayed in the flat, then clearly I didn't consider myself in danger, and if I said I was leaving the flat as suggested by dispatch, then I wasn't in immediate danger anymore anyway. I couldn't win or make a different decision that would have made them come out any quicker.
When I got yet another call that they were coming out at some point, but couldn't say when or even a timescale, and wanted to know what hotel I was in, I lost it (in my head, not to them). I should be sleeping in the day, not hovering waiting for them to randomly turn up/not turn up. PPs have said it can take MONTHS for them to attend to take a statement.
Now this isn't a have-a-bitch-at-the-police rant, but if that is the way the system currently works, I am allowed to consider the practicalities and impact on me. If you don't give me a timeframe, and are likely to either wake me up or even burst in, climb through an open window however many days/weeks from now, and expect a coherent statement from me when I'm in that state, then I was absolutely right to insist that a firm appt was made and I could just go and get it done.
Of course, they may not have knocked on my door (which as I'm sure you can imagine, put the fear of God in me even when the agent and locksmith did it yesterday - I had no idea if it was them as I didn't get a time and it could have been Crazy Tenant coming back). The police may have just given me a lecture about wasting police time because I wasn't available for an indeterminate amount of time at their beck and call.
I stand by my decisions. Sorry this was so long, but it was really upsetting reading quite sanctimonious posts saying I should have done xyz. Thank you to everyone else who has given their stories and support.
The worst thing about it all is that when it happened, Crazy Tenant suddenly 'clicked' and became lucid again, and just said 'Ok' when I screamed at him for the second time and disappeared back upstairs. There was absolutely nothing to say he would click back to crazy at any point and come back downstairs with a weapon. And I had no lock on my door now. When I stayed at my other neighbours, we were both worried he would just kick his door in next.