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!!