House burglaries

armsrace · 2007-04-08T10:09:38+00:00

Have you ever been burgled? if so where you in at the time? how did they get in? etc

sandcastles · 08/04/2007 11:14

Rather a morbid idea for a thread, have you just been boken into?

But, yes. In 1989 (I was 15). We (me, mum & sdad in bed) sometime after 12am.

Thru the lounge window. Small one slightly open, hand thru to open bigger one.

Ironically we were out most of the day & window open all that time, returned at 11pm & nothing. In for an hour & sometime after that they struck.

Original poster

armsrace · 08/04/2007 11:18

No the house across the street has, completely wiped them out. Police think they may be targetting the area so I'm a bit paranoid about it as I'm on my own here. We have double glazing and windows and doors are always shut and locked so I'm just wondering how they would get in if they did target us...

OP posts:

Hulababy · 08/04/2007 11:28

Yes, once back. It was about the 28/29 December 1997 around 5-6pm. We were out at the supermarket. We had gone out and left no lights on. We had no burglar alarm and our garden was easily accessible, with no fence, from a back pathway behind the houses. They removed part of the window frame which we found out later had been ill-fitted. Luckily, although they did trash the place and leave it really dirty and messy, they got away with nothing. I think they must have been disturbed.

Our house was the easy target on the cul de sac, hence ours being done.

sandcastles · 08/04/2007 11:32

OK, well I can completely sympathise with your neighbours. It is horrible.

We didn't have double glazing, but we had left the window open & the curtains open, so it was a literally invite according to the police!!

I think as long as you keep the windows/doors shut & locked, don't get complacent. Chain on door, security lights, lock on back gate, ladders out of view/bolted.

You can make it harder. They will only make so much fuss, imo. There is always an easier house to get into.

if you are going to be out for a while close curtains, leave a light on (not hall tho, we were told too obv, how many people sit in their hall?)

We always used to shout "by dad" even tho he wasn't in....I guess we thought it would deter onlookers? I don't know.

sandcastles · 08/04/2007 11:34

so it was literally an invite

boysontoast · 08/04/2007 11:35

oh god yes. our house was burgled upwards of 10n times duringmy childhood. is pretty standard run of the mill stuff where i grew up.
they nip in and out in 2 minutes taking the telly and video, mostly. mostly during the day while youre out, but sometimes at night while youre asleep. my aunt scared one witless one night when she got up for a pee.

and they NEVER press eject before they nick the video player either, the buggers. its always you favourite video in there too {grrrr}

boysontoast · 08/04/2007 11:37

there was a kid at my secondary school once who was paid by some dodgy blokes to listen out for when people were going on holiday, then get their address details from the register... several families came home from a week abroad to find everything gone. and i mean curtains, carpets, light bulbs, the lot.
now THAT is rude.

Trifle · 08/04/2007 11:38

I will be seeing my friends 16 year old son on wednesday and will confront him as I think he has been breaking into our house. The last time he was here the keys to the back door went missing and have never been found. We also found the garage door ajar as it hadnt been locked properly. He has been caught by the police for breaking into other peoples houses and, as mine is en route to/from his school I know he has been skipping school and I think he has been dossing at my house when I've been out. It is a very delicate situation as I dont want his mum to think I am jumping to conclusions but little things have just added up and I dont think I am wrong.

chirpygirl · 08/04/2007 11:40

We were burgled in May 1998. I was living with 2 other girls in Uni and we were all out one night and the last one out forgot to set the alarm.
I got a call at work (I worked for a taxi company) at 3 am from one of my housemates asking me to bring some blokes round as she didn't know if they were still there. They had climbed over the neighbours wall, through his garden, smashed the kitchen window and unlocked the back door by reaching round for the key which we had stupidly left in the lock.

It was the guys in the drug den opposite us as they had seen us come back with some new stereo's and a telly the week before and spent the next fortnight until we moved teasing us about what had been in our fridge.

They also crapped on my mates bedroom floor, we cleaned it up and still haven't told her as she spent the night at her boyfriends.

chirpygirl · 08/04/2007 11:44

If you aren't sure how safe your house is stand outside it and decide how you would get in, then fix that IYSWIM.
Local police will help with safety tips as well. One of our neighbours is CID and he helped us check over our hosue from outside, their only way in is to smash a window on a busy street so we feel quite safe now.

boysontoast · 08/04/2007 11:44

thats a nice story chirpy

trifle - good luck with your discussion.

chirpygirl · 08/04/2007 11:47

huh?

boysontoast · 08/04/2007 11:51

i was being ironical, wernt i.

chirpygirl · 08/04/2007 12:03

Aah, I was being fick, sorry!

Trifle - have only just read your post, could you maybe come home and catch him at it? It would make it easier to convince him mum what he is up to. Good luck anyway.

jofeb04 · 08/04/2007 12:05

Hiya,
We were broken into about three weeks before Xmas. We were out all day Xmas Shopping, and we found out that they had come in by a back window that was locked. They had broke the frame, which surprised us.

tribpot · 08/04/2007 12:13

I was broken into at the start of 2003. In retrospect, always really difficult to know what to do with the curtains if you're away for any period of time (I actually worked abroad during the week but was away for the weekend with friends in the UK when it happened). There were high gates into a courtyard that were easy to force, then they could drive a van in and break a side window and no-one could see them as they trawled through the house for stuff - they even took my Dyson!

However, I suspect there was more to it than that as they then poured petrol all over the living room, left a half-empty can under the gas fire and threw a match in. The whole lot went up in minutes and Transco said that if the fire brigade hadn't have been so quick the house would have blown up. I think it's fair to say that's not normal for a burglary!

tribpot · 08/04/2007 12:13

Btw, had only just moved in so suspect the arson was an attempt to get at the previous tenants, but the police took no notice of this theory (or in fact did anything).

Trifle · 08/04/2007 12:16

Chirpy - he's been caught by the police and the school are watching him closely. Apparently it was well known that he was skipping school but the school have a policy of not telling the parents. The police became involved when he went missing for a week so the school are now on his case and he darent skip school again. Most embarassingly he broke into houses of people that he knew (neighbours, his parents friends houses) and, although his mum said he has confessed all to the police, she never mentioned me and I would be mad as hell if she does know I was targeted. The fact that the back gate has been ripped off its hinges is another clue plus all the noises that used to come from the garage. I used to joke that there was someone in there, am now convinced it was him. The door from the garage into the house was rarely locked so he could have had free access to the whole place.

boysontoast · 08/04/2007 13:13

blimey tribpot, that a bit scary!

tribpot · 08/04/2007 13:20

It was godawful, boysontoast. In some ways better that the house was uninhabitable afterwards so I was released from my lease and didn't have to move back in, I wouldn't have felt safe there ever again. Also fortunately my landlord managed to get hold of me by mobile (he lived nearby, this happened at midnight) so that the fire brigade didn't risk themselves going in to rescue me.

boysontoast · 08/04/2007 13:23

. well im glad you didnt have to live there afterwards, and that no-one was hurt of course!
ive found myself in some sticky situations over the years. is sickening when you realise things can be so far out of your control, isnt it?

TheArmadillo · 08/04/2007 13:26

when I lived at home my parents house was broken into when we were away visiting relatives. I think they took the computer, tv and video. But the worse part was they took my mums jewellery box which had her mum's wedding ring and other jewellery in. Mum was really upset, cos you can't replace those.

Then about 3-4 years ago our house got broken into when we were all asleep upstairs. Boxing day night. Took DVDs and handbags. LEft the gamecube that was in a bag on the floor. They must have been in and out in minutes.

House was such a state (days before ds) that we didn't notice . I couldn't find my bag, but it wasn't until my friend couldn't find hers either that we realised we'd be broken into. Then we noticed the DVDs had gone.

Got back my passport that was in my bag though, which was good.

Chickbabymummy · 08/04/2007 13:26

I was burgled 9 years ago, on Christmas Day - I lived in a downstairs council bedsit, and they smashed the front window, my flat was right at the end of the street, there were 5 other flats, and the Police reckonned they waited to my neighbour across the corridor went to visit his sick wife in hospital - I was away at my mum's, all the other neighbours were away to except for one elderly and very deaf couple - before smashing the window, and making off with my TV, video and PC. I was gutted when i got back, but at least they didn't take any jewellary as most of it was not very expensive but irreplacable from a sentimental point of view. It was upsetting to think someone had been in my home, luckily I was moving anyway! Your poor neighbours, my heart goes out to them, I think it's the fact that your personal space has been violated that makes it so hurtful.