All these people who cry "burglary!'.

[seeker]

It always happens at night and there are never any witnesses. I bet they either left the door open, just inviting people into their houses then shout "burglary!" when someone misreads their signals. Or they've just lost their stuff and say it was a burglary to get other people into trouble. Or some people just do it for the attention. People should take responsibilty for their stuff.

I agree that people who show people what they have in their home are really asking to be burgled.

I'm going to have to stop shouting 'burglary' now!! I'm going to start shouting 'buggery' instead and hopefully I might get the sympathy I deserve.

Have you seen those placards where "Don't get Burgled" has been changed to "Don't Burgle"? Good work whoever did those.

Which thread does this relate to then? Come on, spit it out!

I was burgled when we lived in Preston. ds was just 3 months old and we took him and dd to dh's brother's house for tea. We weren't back late but we knew something was wrong when the front door wouldn't open. dh broke it down and the house was in chaos. The lean-to door had been forced open and then the back door window broken to get the keys so they could unlock it. They went through every room in the house emptying drawers, pulling stuff out of cupboards, but the only thing they stole was the one thing which was most precious to me - my pet parrot.

I'd had him since I was 17. I know he flew under the sofa to get away as I found his feathers there. But they'd taken one of ds's baby coats to throw over him and then stuffed him into dh's work bag.

The police came, said we weren't to touch anything until forensics came the next day so we had to go to bed with the house completely unsecure and in a total mess. I just cried and cried all night.

I still cry when I think of it. And yes, he was on 'display' if you like. His cage and perch (he was never locked in the cage) was in front of our back window so he could look out of the back. Anyone walking through the guinnel behind our gardens would have seen him, so the bastards would have been local.

So let me at the thread who says burglaries are all our fault and I'll tear them apart

I understand if you are burgled by a stranger.The problem is that you are more likely to be burgled by someone you know.

How are we to know that you didn't invite them to burgle you? You may have invited them into your home and offered to let them take a small trinket. How is the burgler meant to know this isn't an invite to come back and take everything you own?

It's a metaphor, rhubarb, nobody has said that.

Nobody ever says that about burglaries. I'm sure it's just an oversight.

I knew this bloke who claimed he was burgled, but you only had to look at his house to realise he must be lying. Overgrown garden, peeling paint, he didn't take care of his place at all. Poor sod was obviously living in a fantasy world, nobody in their right mind would want to burgle him. He'd probably have been grateful if they did, ha!

er rhubarb0, it's a metaphor for the idiotic excuses made for rape.

I would just like to flag up Antiques Roadshow as well; do you think it spurs people on to burglary, or provides an outlet for their acquisitive fantasies?

If someone invites someone into their house and then they steal their stuff, well they should have been more careful really. If you invite someone in your house then it's pretty much a given that they can go into any room they want and take anythign they want, surely?

Rhubarb, so sorry to hear about your parrot. :( But this thread is taking comments made about the victims of rape and applying them to victims of burglary.

Tortoise, you may jest, but a friend of mine accidentally set off her burglar alarm in a public place, and a passerby actually said "You'd be lucky love!".

Ah I see
Well you see what comes of starting a thread and not telling us the whole story! Tut!

So me saying that my bird was on display is a metaphor too is it?

I've been sent a link to the original thread and I think I shall refrain from posting my bird story on there. I don't think they would get it.

great thread, seeker

oh I didn't realise this was about an actual thread, just comments that are usually made by the public and media

Jump, this does not surprise me at all, tbh. I know victims who have been told they must be lying because they are 'too fat'.

So sorry about your parrot rhubarb

My friend once invited me round for a cuppa. While I was there, she let me use her toilet. She also gave me some biscuits and when I left I took with me some leftover cake for my DC.

So a few nights later I fancied another biscuit and a DVD player So, as she had let me in before and allowed me to use and take her stuff, I felt I was entitled to go back and take a bit more. At no point had she said to me, 'This is a one-off, you may have a biscuit today but may not just help yourself whenever you choose'. Therefore I was absolutely in the right to assume that what had been on offer once was a permanent arrangement.

Well, you wouldn't believe the outrage. I let myself in through a window and helped myself. When she appeared in the doorway and seemed cross, I pointed out that this was the precedent and unfortunately I had to hurt her.

Luckily, she could not prove that I had eaten any of her biscuits. Nor could she prove, as I was a friend, that the grubby prints all over the biscuit tin were not there from our previous binge. I feel lucky to have escaped but she should have been more clear. How am I supposed to distinguish between acceptable and not, use my moral compass? Or my sense of decency? Tis a lot to ask.

< proud of self to be first on thread (under another name >

Great thread, shame it's on chat and will disappear in 90 days.

Which thread is this a run on from then? where's the rape apologists?

Haha, I used the far side of fuck line yesterday Anyf!!

Look, if you know a bloke works for Pickfords, surely it's partly your own responsibility if you move into the same street and let him actually see other removal men carrying furniture into your house?

Not a follow on from any particular thread. Just mirroring the zeitgeist.

If people want to put themselves at risk of so called burglary, that is their issue. I can see how the idea starts to form in their mind. They give an over generous tip in a restaurant and then start to regret allowing people into their homes to borrow a cup of sugar and make up these ludicrous stories.

I really think the 'milk tray fantasy' is a straw man argument. A lot of this is caused by introducing young children to the concept of Christmas at too young an age. It encourages in them a desire to give away items of value as supposed gifts while coupling this desire with a fascination with a bearded man who lets himself into other people's houses down a chimney without their consent. Christmas gift giving should only happen within Christian marriage, or burglary is bound to happen.

I'm not saying that it is acceptable to overpower a 15 year old when they open the door, in order to steal their belongings, but some of the blame has to lie with the parents. And what kind of parent allows a 15 year old to open a front door in the first place? If you're not old enough or responsible enough to take out a mortgage, then you shouldn't be allowed a key to a property.

You know what was just discovered? This person who claimed they had been burgled had once lied on their job application!
Therefore, obviously they are lying about this burglary too.

Even though many other people claim things have gone missing around this burglar and that this burglar had attempted to steal from them as well. But surely, if the alleged victim has lied before in their life, they could not have been burgled.