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Burglars.....woke up to one in the house at 4am last night.

27 replies

Bobbins · 27/06/2003 03:16

We heard a noise at 4am and thought it was our cat fighting. It was some bloke rifling through our kitchen. He legged it over the back fence with absolutely shed loads of stuff as he knew we were alertt. He must have been in the house at leat 15 mins, unplugging the playstation, choosing DVD's and CD's and bagging digital camera, cordless mouse (which actually needs a cord, which he didn't bag) and timberland work boots and such stuff. He took out the catflap and somehow managed to twist the key that was stupidly left in the inside keyhole (it took me ages to mistress that lock!). My lovely man was a lovely but stupid hero and cycled round onto the back park and confronted him and we got most of the stuff back before a weapon was proferred by the theef.

I can't sleep after spending all day on the phone to insurance and entertaining police and scene of crime people. I have spent a 100 quid on an alarm but I still have no inkling to sleep since this disturbance, although I am very exhausted. The bollox of it is...ex partner still has his name on the house insurance (he stopped paying it lkast October) so has veto whether to allow my claim to go through. He is partying in Ibiza, so how will this bbloody work.

I despair.

What have I f.......g done to deserve this b.....s.....?

OP posts:
Bobbins · 27/06/2003 03:20

4am last night to clarify....I will pass out soon with mental exhaustion...I hope

OP posts:
Bobbins · 27/06/2003 03:31

That sounds a bit...poor me....poor me

OK...the funny thing is, the main thing that he got away with eventually was my knitting bag. I wonder exactly who he will get to finish off that jumper. Really quite surreal, or am I just OVER tired. Ghosty??

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cathncait · 27/06/2003 03:53

Bobbins,
How horrible. You don't sound 'poor me' at all! I would be horrified. I feel really awful for you. We had someone rob us when were out once and I was scared enough then. Having been there at the time must have been awful.
When you say your man confronted him - did the theif have a weapon? Wow, that was brave - even if a little foolhardy. I hope that you can get that insurance thing worked out - thats the last thing you need on top of it all! thinking of you- I hope you've managed to get to sleep ok

doormat · 27/06/2003 06:07

Bobbins how awful for you and your family. Thoughts are with you at this time. Take care and get some rest.

sibble · 27/06/2003 06:31

Bobbins
I really feel for you. I was woken to find "somebody" in my kitchen years ago when I was house sharing. Only one there that night of course, fortunately he ran with nothing but it took me ages to sleep. last week my neighbour was burgled and was disturbed by me going round to see why the alarm was going off (stupid or what) and didn't sleep for 3 nights after that. The Sh*t with the insurance is the last thing you need. Cannot offer anything else but to say am thinking of you.

Ghosty · 27/06/2003 07:12

Bobbins .... so sorry I wasn't on line when you were posting .... otherwise we could have had a good old chinwag to take your mind off things ...
Hopefully you are now snoring away though ....
We were burgled a couple of months ago ... in broad daylight when we were out - so definitely not as scary as what happened to you, but I can definitely relate to being scared in your own house and not being able to sleep.
The good thing is that the burglar was probably just an 'opportunist' and so won't return. If you have a visible alarm you know that they won't come back ... I think that is the scary thing isn't it? That you think they will come back.
Poor poor you .... I am thinking of you darling ... and you just DON'T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!
You will feel better about it ... and stop being scared ... especially now you have the alarm system ...
Hugs winging their way to you .... {{{{{}}}}}

mmm · 27/06/2003 08:04

What a scary thing to happen poor Bobbins.

SoupDragon · 27/06/2003 08:17

Hugs, Bobbins! I found someone trying to steal my car stereo once and it was horrible. I got really angry to start wth and kicked the door shut o his legs but once he'd gone I started shaking Not as bad as someone in your house, however.

I hope the alarm makes you feel safer now. Keep imagining the disgusted look on his face when he opens your knitting bag to find.... knitting!

katierocket · 27/06/2003 09:33

hi bobbins - all my sympathy and hugs - same thing happened to us about a year ago. It was horrible and really depressed me - I think it was the realisation that DS was upstairs asleep and I hated the thought that some piece of scum could just come into our house.

ever since then we always lock all the doors (internal door locks) and put the alarm on downstairs - horrible but makes us feel a lot safer.

xxx

princesspeahead · 27/06/2003 09:39

God how awful and what a shock! I feel so sorry for you, being burgled at night and in your own house is the worst thing, I know. Violating your own space. I'm glad your dp gave him a hard time, makes it much less likely that he'll try you again, and thank goodness your dp wasn't hurt. Can't believe he accessed through the catflap.
No advice, just try and focus on feeling angry rather than feeling vulnerable (although much easier said than done) and let's hope the bastard gets caught...

ks · 27/06/2003 10:03

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M2T · 27/06/2003 10:06

Bobbins - that sounds trully terrifying! I hope something really good happens to you soon coz you definitely don't deserve all of this crap!

Marina · 27/06/2003 11:16

Oh Bobbins, how horrible for you both. V impressed dp got a lot of the stuff back without getting hurt, but that was quite a daredevil stunt he pulled.
I cannot think your ex would be so vindictive as to veto your insurance claim...could he? That seems terribly unnecessary and petty.
Just so glad you are both safe, and also loved the idea of the toerag ending up mainly with your knitting. Maybe it will turn up on Crimewatch...
Take care and let us know how you are doing today, when you get a chance.

lucy123 · 27/06/2003 11:40

Bobbins, that's just awful. It's something I have an absolute terror of. And its not the stuff that makes it so bad either.

Somebody pincehed everything from the pockets of my coat once when it was left in a cloakroom (a 50p ticket type cloakroom). Lost loads of stuff(disn't have a handbag) but the thing that pissed me off most was that they pinched the spare tammy in one of the pockets.

Anyway give yourself a treat - a meal out or something.

Batters · 27/06/2003 12:33

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

aloha · 27/06/2003 12:41

Oh god, how scary. But fantastic stuff by your dp. What a hero! I'm so thrilled the tosser who tried to steal from you didn't get away with anything. As someone else said, I can't imagine your ex will veto your claim - that would just be utterly vindictive.

sobernow · 27/06/2003 13:18

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IDismyname · 27/06/2003 13:40

Bobbins
This happened to us twice when we lived in London. The first time was through a window on the first floor that we'd forgotten to lock that night... dh and I exhausted after long days at work, and it was a very hot night, anf the second thime through the letterbox and turning the key in the lock that we'd left there.

Both times it was about 3 or 4 am, and we woke both times, too. It's awful, and it took me a long time before I could sleep again.

We lost the house and car keys both times (so all locks changed), a carriage clock, video and a fab pair of earrings that dh had bought for me for christmas that I hadn't even worn.

I can only suggest that you look out for someone wearing your finished jumper

I don't mean to shout, but....

DON'T EVER, EVER LEAVE YOUR KEYS IN THE DOOR AT NIGHT OR ON A TABLE BY THE DOOR, OR LEAVE YOUR BAG OR WALLET OUT.

Hope you all take note !

katierocket · 27/06/2003 13:49

I'll echo Blue2's comments. Don't ever leave your keys on the stair either - we were told by police that it's really common for them to look through letter box to see if anything is there.

katierocket · 27/06/2003 14:04

also, when it happened to us the B* got DP's wallet and managed to withdraw £400 using cashcard. Pin number was not in the wallet. Bank were very sniffy about it saying that the number must have been in there, was it part of drivers licence or something. It wasn't - it was a totally random number that he had never written down.

when the police came in the morning and we told them money had been withdrawn they said "oh its really common, they have special scanners that they run the cards through to get the number"
Bank said "that's not true - no such devices exist"
DP said "well if I can't trust the police who can I trust"
Bank eventually refunded the money but it makes you realise what criminals can do these days (god I sound like my gran! but you know what I mean)

bossykate · 27/06/2003 14:20

hi bobbins, goodness you do go through it, don't you? agree with the idea of having a party or something to reclaim the house. your local police should have a crime prevention officer who will visit your home and give you tips about how to make your home more secure. hope you are feeling better soon.

WARNING - the police give good advice, but will open your eyes to many potential ways in for thieves and other miscreants that you hadn't previously thought of, so don't have them round when you are eight months pg and your dh is away as i did!!!

WideWebWitch · 27/06/2003 14:22

Bobbins, how awful, lots of sympathy. Your dp does indeed sound like a hero, bless him. I bet your ex won't be vindictive - he's nothing to gain from it. Can you get an alarm, new locks etc etc to try to feel safe again? (sorry if repeating, haven't read whole thread) I think the police will come and advise you if you ask them.

Boe · 27/06/2003 14:52

Sorry to digress - about the insurance thing - do you have to get him to sign something to take his name off the policy document - my name is still on policy document at house where x2b is living (I presume)as I have never been approached to have my name taken off.

His mother is the insurance broker by the way and I would love for her to have done it illegally so I could make a fuss (sounds mean but she has just written statement to court about custody of my daughter - she is evil!!)

Bobbins · 28/06/2003 12:29

Boe> i was just told that I couldn't claim without his concent, because his name was on the policy.

He is out of the country so getting his consent is a problem. Also, I don't like the idea of the arsehole thinking I am sitting in the house feeling vulnerable.

I feel like this incident had set me back alot. I have been holding onto my last vestige of security - my home, and I just feel violated.

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ThomCat · 30/06/2003 09:56

Oh Bobins, I'm so sorry. Wish I could say something other than I'm so sorry. At least you have a lovely man who was there to look after you though aye. And stuff what you ex thinks, you're not vulnerable - you have a lovely man who was your hero that night, and when the ex gets back from partying in Ibiza he'll be bought back to earth by having to sort out the insurance stuff, ha - good!!