Stress

[katie23913]

I'm 25 weeks pregnant and suffering extreme anxiety. There was an attempted break in at my house yesterday whilst me and my partner were at work. They smashed our window but the alarm must have scared them off. We have had the window replaced and a 6ft fence put up in the garden but I am absolutely petrified they are going to come back. I slept for around 2 hours last night and feel like I'm not going to sleep much tonight either.

We are both back at work tomorrow and I'm really worried this will happen again. They have been seen in cctv and it's obvious they have targeted our house which is making me very paranoid.

It's going to take me a long time to get over this I don't know how I am going to cope with the fear of them coming back.

I had the same happen to me a few years ago and then not long after it happened to my neighbour and I was absolutely terrified. I lost so many nights sleep.
I installed every security measures I could think of and eventually I started to feel more at ease. It did take a while but you do gradually start to forget about it in a sense.
We changed our routine slightly aswell, just incase we were being watched. We left the house a bit later for a while but sometimes it's not always possible.
I used to leave my TV on through the day, and at one point I even put the timer on the washing machine to go off at certain times so it looked like I was in. At night I left lamps on and put timers on them too if I was out when it was going dark. Also we used to try leave a car at home whenever we could just so it looked like someone was still at home.

The police told me it's very rare they would try the same house twice especially when they are alarmed. But it still doesn't stop that doubt.

I'm sorry this happened to you. It's such an awful thing to experience.

Thank you. We are going to get security lights and CCTV and we are going to add another 2 ft to the fence. I'm am also going to put some nails up there so if they try to jump over they slice their hands. I know that's probably not even legal but I don't care after what they have put me through.

I just can't believe this happened in the middle of the day. It's the first time it has happened to me and has really shaken me up. I feel like we are being watched.

It is an awful feeling I was on edge for so long. If I didn't know a car on the street I would write down the reg number and everything. You can get vandal greese aswell for the top of the fense. It makes everything really slippy and sticks to them like glue. I know this sounds mad. But could you put say a large dog bowl in the garden. Make it look like you have a dog? I found that even though things sounded a little crazy they did help me relax a bit more.

I got broken in to in December and I was terrified. Some of the things that helped me are:

Internal CCTV - cost £40 and links to my phone so if I get alerted, I can tap in to my phone straight away and look.

Alarm - you already have this, I didn't.

Hive light bulbs - they come on at random times set by me and make it look as if we are home.

Tv stimulator - we have this attached to a Hive plug. It switches on and creates a flashing light that from outside looks like the tv is on. You can also add a radio in to come on at the same time so it sounds like there's someone in.

Outdoor cctv - cost me about £300 as my dad fitted it but it's definitely a deterrent.

Stickers - advertising I have CCTV on 24 hr recording.

A 6 ft fence around the house.

Move anything pricey you don't use regularly in to the loft, for example, heirloom jewellery etc. Put spare car keys in the loft too.

The way I feel now after it already happening is, if it happens again, it's fine. I have insurance. I replaced the items lost. Nobody died or got hurt. If they come again, they'll take the same things and I'll just claim on insurance again. The thought of my home being intruded is awful but at the end of the day, the things they took are just things and can be purchased again ❤️

Thank you for those tips. I will definitely be getting the plugs and light bulbs. I've never heard of them before. I think once I have the CCTV and the fence is a bit higher I will feel better. He said he was only allowed to do a 6ft fence by law and you have to add to it with trellis which we will do up to 8ft.

You'll feel so much better for the changes you make. I'm almost a year on and am still neurotic about always having a light on. They got in via my kitchen so I always have the kitchen light on now, so that if they jump over my fence, they'll think I'm still awake.

Another thing I have in my kitchen/living room is a star lock. It locks the door from the living room so if they do get in to the kitchen, they have another door to get through before they get to anything valuable, in which time, I have time to vacate the house. That cost me £5 off eBay.

Hope you're okay, OP. It is such an unpleasant experience xx

I will have a look in to the internal locks as I have also tho guy about this. I'm getting my cctv fitted soon where I can check the cameras on my phone which will make me feel better. Even if I am at work I will be able to check on the house.

Sorry you had to go through this, it sounds horrible. The timer lights and timer radio are good tips. Also if you have to move your bins for pick up and they don't get collected until after you've gone to work, then ask a neighbour you can trust who is retired/doesn't work, to bring them up the drive/garden path for you during the day. Where we live we have to put the bins at the bottom of the drive for the bin men to take and if you go past people's houses in the early evening it's really easy to see who still isn't back from work yet because their empty bins are still sat at the bottom of their driveway.

I am a bit paranoid about being in the house on my own so if my DH is out in the evenings I make sure that there is a light on in more than one room of the house so it looks like multiple people are at home rather than just me.

Hope you are ok xx

Thank you. All these tips have been really helpful. I've got my living room lamp on a timer and I have put it to come on at random times during the night for a little while to make it look like somebody is up. I'm also going to do that in the spare room too.

By the weekend my cctv will be installed and security lights so I think I will feel much better when I can just go on my phone and check the outside of the house and I will be able to check up on it at work too.

I'm just angry that I have had to go to such lengths and spend so much money just to feel safe in my own home. Especially with a baby on the way, there's a lot of stuff I need to spend my money on.

When I had my alarm fitted the guy fitting it said statistically houses with an alarm are much less likely to have burglars return to try again. So now that these people know you have an alarm they are EXTREMELY unlikely to target your property again!

We had an update from the police today. They have recovered the car that was involved and the registration has been linked to other burglary's in the area. They left a lot of stuff in the car that can identify them. The police seem to think they have a pretty good chance of catching them. I feel a bit better now. As awful as it sounds I feel better that it's not just me they have done this to because now it does not seem personal, it just seems like they seen an opportunity and taken it.

Although I do feel for their other victims because they actually had stuff stolen and we didn't. I wouldn't wish it on anybody.