To ask if you’re ever been burgled?

[CherryValley5]

Edit: Typo in title - should obviously be you’ve!

Really just looking for anyone who might have experienced something similar to see if it’s right for me to be worried about this situation escalating..

In the early hours of the morning we had intruders in our back garden, peering into our back door (which thankfully had been locked). DD’s bedroom is directly above - she saw the security light come on and heard movement on the gravel however she just assumed that it was a fox or badger walking through the garden as this is quite typical. She looked out her window and was shocked to see three middle aged, well built men standing there, looking around and conversing with each other in thick Irish accents (we’re northern Irish, they definitely weren’t local - DD is convinced they were travellers.)

She panicked and rang me from her bedroom - I immediately picked up the phone, slammed all of the lights on and ran downstairs. This must have spooked them as they ran and fled in an old run around car which was sitting across the street. DD videoed them but it was too dark to see the registration plate.

I rang the non emergency police number and they quickly attended. Perfectly pleasant but spectacularly useless - suggested that the men in question could maybe be undercover police officers doing a search of the area (??) and went on their way.

I’m worried that we’ve been targeted and that they will come back for more. There have been unmarked vans ending up at the house over recent months asking for scrap metal or if we are willing to sell our cars- we live at the dead end of the neighbourhood so it’s impossible for somebody to just be doing a casual drive by. I’m currently divorcing so it’s just DD and I in the house, I wonder if they’ve observed us and know it’s an easy target. It’s the marital home so is very large and I suppose would look desirable to a potential burglar (unfortunately for them we have nothing of big value..) To make matters worse we have building work going on at the moment so there is no back gate or means of securing the back garden… Sorry for the rant - I feel like crying!!

Should also say: I’ve bought a ring door bell cam and reactivated the security alarm (we live in such a quiet place that in 5 years of being here we’ve never felt the need to put it on!). Anything else that I need to do or invest in to hopefully make us a bit safer?

That must have been very disconcerting.

Not as an adult, but our house was burgled when I was growing up. My parents left a small kitchen window open overnight by mistake, and the police think someone set a child through (not big enough for an adult), who then found the door keys and unlocked it. From what a remember they did find the culprits thanks to a
fingerprint on the window frame.

Yes and it was our next door neighbour, the scummy bastard. I was a child at the time. Absolutely trashed the house too. I was not quite 4 and I remember coming home and seeing the absolute wreckage of the hallway. He’d even sliced my teddies in case we’d hidden valuables in them.

We didn’t know he was a prolific burglar at the time. The police attended and basically went straight next door to ‘talk’ to him. He knew we were away as he saw us put the bag in the car and leave, and he’d smashed the back door in within minutes of us leaving.

I was burgled when I lived in a shared mansion flat in Highgate. I had actually been home all week as I was on study leave for my accountancy exams. The evening we were burgled was the one evening I went round to see a friend for dinner so it was pretty obvious the thieves had been watching the flat as I was literally only out for those few hours all week. It was very upsetting to come home to especially as neither of my (male) flatmates came home that night (they were staying at girlfriends). I was told by the police not to touch or move anything as they were sending someone round to fingerprint. So I was alone and up all night, just sitting on the floor (sofa, beds, everything had been thrown all over the place). Fingerprint person never turned up of course.

If the building work is visible then that may have attracted them - tools and building materials are prime targets.

It's unlikely that you personally are being targeted. Do what you can to improve security.

Yes, they only broke into the shed and took a pressure washer and some tools. I don't think coming in houses is as attractive to a thief, it's certainly more dangerous.

Time to take a good review of your locks and maybe install some night vision external cameras to put your mind at rest.

Well.. it’s currently a pile of rubble at the minute, no tools or materials left out so I don’t know what would attract them 😬

Never experienced it myself but I feel dreadful for people who have been burgled. It must feel like the most awful violation.

It’s always been a fear of mine tbh.

Yes I was burgled in my first home , they jemmied open the patio doors . It was a ridiculous robbery as a very small starter home with nothing of value although they did swipe the telly .

This could explain it. We’ve got a big double garage which the door they were trying to get in leads to (we live in a split level bungalow so it’s a sort of basement level). DH would often leave it open with lots of tools etc inside as he is an ex engineer so maybe they’ve seen something desirable

They weren’t even inside our home and it did leave both DD and I feeling really shaken and violated. It’s an awful feeling

We've been burgled once (DH went home from work early for completely freak reasons and disturbed the burglar) and had stuff stolen from our garden.

Automatic security lights can be a deterrent and cameras/ring doorbells definitely help. Make sure no tools are left lying around (shovels, forks, anything you could jemmy open a window or door with), and trim back any hedges or shrubs that obscure neighbours' view of your doors or gates. We've also had someone disturbed while trying to break in who was taking advantage of our hedge being overgrown and the door not being visible from the road. If you can't lock/secure your garden talk to your builders and ask if there's anything that can be left in the way/blocking access while they're not there. Let your neighbours know what's happened and ask them to be aware and pay attention to anything out of the ordinary.

Is it beyond your ex to put the frighteners on you to force a quick sale to get you out of the house and minimise what you get from the divorce settlement?

Yes, many many years ago we were burgled. We moved. We became very security conscious.

Top tip: never leave your handbag downstairs in the hall with your passport, driving licence, bank cards and an old payslip in it. It took years to unravel the mess of the attempted ID frauds. Thankfully they always got caught out because my first and last names are v v unusual.

What a terrifying experience. I'd invest in good floodlight style sensor lighting around the house exterior and clear CCTV you are being recorded signage.

Yes in the night while we slept. They took anything of value from downstairs. I didn't sleep for about six months after and even now am ultra paranoid about locking up at night

Yes we have. A couple of years ago now but we had the back door lock snapped, the dog disturb them and they left with nothing. The police said they were after our car keys. We updated all locks with anti snap ones and now chain our back gate and use a special lock for patio doors. We're away at the minute and the local facebook groups been reporting attempted break in almost nightly. Obvioulsy the same person but it's very close to home and I'm worried they've tried our house.

Yeah it was awful it was when I was living alone, they had been through every nook and cranny, took so many things of sentimental value and even some weird items. I hate the fact they came into my safe space and I felt uneasy for a long time afterwards.

They came in through a window and had used a crow bar. I put window alarms on but didn’t feel targeted as such. I think people just look for opportunities.

I have but it was when we were on holiday and a quite weird situation in a student house. It's very disconcerting and anxiety provoking.

What I'd say to you though is - your security lights did their job, your DD was on the case, you reacted perfectly and because of all that, you did NOT get burgled. I think it's unlikely you were targeted and even if you were, all of the above means it's unlikely they'll come back.

One thing the police emphasised to us was that 99% of burglaries are opportunistic. It's really not worth the risk to them if you have decent security.

So up your precautions by all means, but honestly try not to worry about them coming back.

Yes twice. The first time I came home late and saw someone through the door so knocked to be let in. My boyfriend answered the door and I asked him what took so long. The next day we saw we'd been burgled and it was the burglar I'd seen through the door.

The second time I came home from work and my door had been been kicked down and we'd been burgled.

I've been burgled twice. Once as a child and once as a single mum. They cross-barred open a window. I had very little of value but they took the computer and the external hard-drive - hence I now have very few photographs of the children when they were little. The police did diddly squat and I felt unsafe in that house for a long time after.

Well attempted i had no idea when as they obviously either were spooked or couldn’t get in. But found something random on the patio (was tidying up the garden in winter) so hadn’t been out for a while and it was infact a bit of door handle. The guys that came out to change the locks put an anti theft one (can’t think of the type) then stuck a sticker on to say it was that type of lock. asked them about securing back gate with a lock and he said absolutely no point, if they want to get into your back garden to break in then they will. We have a visible alarm on the side of the house. He said it’s very much a case of if they want to then they aren’t arsed what you have up

Could they have thought you were away from home with the building work going on? If they were talking loudly enough for your daughter to get an accent it sounds like they didn’t think anyone was home.

We were burgled when I was a teenager, they took my laptop and all our DVD’s. I was absolutely gutted about my laptop, kicking myself for leaving it on the dining room table where it could be seen. Police came round to do fingerprints but they never caught anyone. We found they’d forced the old Yale lock at the back of the house where there wasn’t much visibility. My Mum bought better locks and we found they tried to force the door again a few months later (presumably knowing we’d have replaced things by then) but it held. It was really unsettling.

I hope you’re okay, it’s good that your DD heard them and you could scare them off!

Yes while staying overnight with an ex.

He woke me up to say in a hushed voice 'we're being burgled', grabbed a baseball bat I didn't know he had and ran to confront them!

He entered the living room as a man was climbing in the window. He got spooked and ran off!

Yes. Whilst I was out at work on a night shift. The flat upstairs was robbed a few weeks later whilst I was in. Converted terrace where upstairs and I shared a hall but his front door was at bottom of the stairs. I heard lots of unplugging of things ... And someone came downstairs to put the latch on presumably so they wouldn't be interrupted as they took stuff out via the back. More than one of them to get the stuff out.

I’ve had a car broken into and absolutely destroyed, a garage broken into and bike taken, and a burglar try and break down my back door. The back door was petrifying. I didn’t realise I’d be so scared. We rang 999, and luckily they were in the area trying to catch them.
we opened the windows and DH shouted at them and they shit themselves and ran, police caught them. I’m often on my own as DH works away, the police thought they’d been watching and thought he was away.
The pathetic look on their faces when a 6’2” chap confronted them will remain with me.