They were burgled. I ignorantly thought that the whole place would be a mess and the burglers were naturally frantic and chaotic, damaging the home trying to find things to take. This looked like an amazingly clean and swift operation, straight in and took the SP2, dvd player, hi-fi, jewellery and cash.
The door frame had a long rectangle gouged out of it running down from where the yale lock was. No forced entry at the main door into the block (because as usual some fanny had left the lock "on the snib")
It must have happened between 3pm (that's when our neighbours left the house with their kids) and when I came home from work at 6.15 (I noticed that the two lights on our landing were off)
Thing is T was in all day with a cold but hadn't heard anything, the flat next door to us has been empty for two years and it was untouched, so I can only conclude it must have been someone they knew. Our suspicions lie with the idiot who used to live directly below our neighbours and who's daughter was always playing with their's. He was being chased by the police a few months (officer with dog and a helicopter overheard!) according to others in our block he'd been beating up his wife, they took him away. A neighbour upstairs said he'd also stolen a car in the past and was arrested for that too.
The neighbours told us this is the first time they'd been robbed since they moved in fourteen years ago. Truly heartbreaking that this has happened and of course my own paranoia kicked in. T was okay to stay in for the next few days he said we coudn't stop living our lives. He called the Crime Prevention Office for some tips rather than a locksmith, the phone just rang out. In the meantime we leave the radio on and a couple of lights, but I deep down I'm dreading going on holiday.
There's not much worth nicking at our place unless you have a major love for Hellboy and Batman. That's not the point, I find that as we're getting older and with the amount of daily badness going on in the world, our home is our sanctuary, our escape, our security. What's worse than having any possessions stolen is that a stranger has intruded in your personal space.
- Location:In the comfort of the spare room
- Mood:
sad - Music:The peace and quiet of my home
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- (Anonymous) : Deeply, deeply unpleasant [+0]
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schism_schasm : (no subject) [+0]
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chasethestars
Comments
There was a very slight mess after the first one, but our door was completely undamaged. In the second burglary though, we had the door ripped off the hinges and they made an unbelievable mess of our flat and two neighbours. Bold and cocky indeed...
From the fact so little noise was made and so little disturbance, they either happened upon the electricals straight away, or they knew what they were looking for. I'd favour the latter explanation as they appeared to know exactly what they would encounter, and hence keep quiet.
The best security you can have is to make it look difficult to get into your place. Whilst locks only stop an honest man, a burglar will pick an easy target over a hard one every day of the week. Somewhere that looks like it will take time and noise to enter will be avoided.
Get internal key locks so no-one can look in through the keyhold. Make sure that your letterbox can't be peered through. Get London and Birmingham bars to reinforce the lock side and hinge side respectively. Ensure you have a bare minimum of two locks on the door, and that at least one is a five level mortice lock. If you have a Yale lock or similar, ensure that it has an anti-slip lever, or at least an anti-slip cover, and that it can be double locked. Ideally you should have 3 mortice locks, top, middle and bottom for maximum strength.
Besides, by my reckoning the hottest gear for a fence wouldn't be anything from those two franchises...