So this week has not been an easy one for me. I've always had a fairly major OCD fear of being burgled to the point that when I was particularly stressed it took me 20 - 30 minutes to leave my house about 8 years ago as I had to do so many checks to make sure it was secure.
2 years ago I came back from a work conference and my husband told me that he thought we'd had an attempted break in and sure enough someone had tried to jemmy off the back door and had "snapped" our Yale lock - I'm not going to put up a link, but if you google "lock snapping" it's quite scary. Fortunately my Dad had spotted that our patio doors needed additional security and had fitted two top and bottom lockable bolts and so they didn't manage to get in thankfully. It was enough of a scare though that I invested in replacing the patio doors and the old tired side door with brand new UPVC double glazed doors with special ABS locks that are anti-snap.
Anyway, I returned from a busy day at work on Thursday at 8.30pm with Lebanese takeaway in hand and tried to open my front door. It wouldn't open so I assumed the cats had maybe knocked something down in front of the door, so I went around the back in the dark and saw some weird white stuff which I then realised was glass, I gasped as I wasn't sure what it was and when I realised it was a break in, I had no idea if the burglars were still there. I ran to my next door neighbour (Who moved in during the summer, but the extend of our conversation had been to swap names and shake hands and I'd not really seen him since) and knocked on the door as my husband was down in Devon and so I was staying by myself that night. I explained that I'd been burgled and he handed me the phone and I called the police. I initially dialled 101 as I wasn't sure if it was an emergency, but when I though that actually there might still be people in my house, I changed to 999 and they sent 2 police cars around.
Whilst we were waiting, my neighbour and his house mate put on shoes and helped me try and spot the cats - I was most worried about Marla who doesn't go outside as she gets lost, but we waited until the Police arrived and went into the house. I looked through the lounge window and could see straight away that the TV had been taken. The police arrived within about 5 minutes and got out their hitting sticks or probably as I think they're professional known to be - asps. 3 of the officers went through the house and came out of the front door. Whilst I was waiting outside I mentioned that my husband was down in Devon visiting his brother and they asked if he might have been involved - which of course wasn't true!
My first question when they came outside, was if they'd seen Marla or as I said "A white fluffy weird looking cat" and they had, I managed to catch her and locked her into my car so that she couldn't escape. I saw Willow run down the stairs, but I couldn't see Pocky and was really worried as she needed medicine for her Thyroid problem.
The police took me into the house so I could see what had been taken - strangely as well as the TV they'd taken our PS3, but left our PS2 and Nintendo Wii and not taken any DVDs or games. They'd taken my Netbook - on which most of the blog was authored and then a chintzy piggy bank of 5ps and coppers. They'd been upstairs and gone through all my clothes in my drawers and wardrobes, but hadn't found anything as I don't have any bling jewellery anyway and also the house is still a tip whilst the redecorating is finished, so I would have trouble myself finding anything of value as it's all boxed up and mixed together. I was also pleased that they'd not discovered the external hard drive in a well hidden, on display place and had left my Tower PC alone.
One of the police officers stayed with me to take my statement and the others made "house to house" enquiries. My neighbour remembered hearing voices during the evening, but hadn't seen anything and his housemate had been in all day as he was ill.
The police asked if I minded being filmed - apparently the BBC and Rav Wilding were doing a special on burglaries in Leeds - I said that it would be fine - especially as I like Rav, but he never turned up, so there must have been more interesting or photogenic burglaries that evening I guess.
The police asked if I knew anyone who could secure my door and so I rang Gav - the guy who has been helping me re-plaster as he's really handy and knows pretty much everything - I work with his wife and she called to say that he was on his way and see how I was. I also texted my cousin who lies in Leeds to ask if she knew anyone who could board the door in case I couldn't get hold of Gav and her partner replied to say that she was on her way around.
The SOCO person arrived and it was like watching CSI as he used a torch to find footprints on my new lounge floor and lift them off with a special metallic dust. Just from looking at them he knew that the burglars had been wearing Addidas and Nike Air trainers, unfortunately he was also able to establish they'd worn gloves so couldn't get any finger prints. When he'd finished down by the back door Gav fitted a board to make it all secure and my cousin made everyone tea - I had some with sugar as I was in a bit of shock and hadn't eaten at all since 12pm. The officer taking my statement was lovely and was really interested in the copy of God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens which was on the dining room table. I explained that it was my husband's and we had an interesting conversation about religion - he was Muslim but very interested in hearing about other people's beliefs, although mentioned that he was a lot less keen about the prospect of being on TV with Rav Wilding who he'd met earlier in the toilets.
After the Police had left and Gav had finished securing the door I tidied up my clothes and the drawers and my cousin cleared up the glass inside and I managed to coax Willow and Pocky back to the house who were terrified. I managed to feed Pocky her thyroid medicine and then settled them in and then went back to my cousins's for the night as I was a bit too full of adrenaline to want to stay in the house by myself. I did find it hard to leave the cats though. As much as I am annoyed at the TV being taken etc. I was most concerned that the cats were OK as they can't be replaced in PC World. They are still taking time to calm back down, but are getting there.
The next day I got up and had breakfast with my cousin and her kids who didn't even seem to think it strange or ask why I was there and then headed home to speak to the insurance company and finish tidying up. Another SOCO officer arrived as he wanted a glass sample from the door - they'd found suspects with glass in their shoes so he said that there was a chance I could see my stuff again (not holding out much hope though it has to be said). I also purchased a cheap TV so that I have something to watch whist insurance company sort out a replacement - I had a minor operation on Saturday under general anaesthetic (more about this later) so I wanted some access to entertainment whilst recovering. I also wanted to create a timeframe for the police as I knew I had a lot of recordings on Sky+. I was able to tell the police that the burglary occurred between 6.30pm and 7pm (Got to Dance recorded fine from 6 - 6.30pm) and 7pm (The Big Bang Theory at 7pm failed as they'd unplugged all of the electronic devices including the Sky Box when stealing the PS3 and TV).
So what have I learned or decided from all this?
2 years ago I came back from a work conference and my husband told me that he thought we'd had an attempted break in and sure enough someone had tried to jemmy off the back door and had "snapped" our Yale lock - I'm not going to put up a link, but if you google "lock snapping" it's quite scary. Fortunately my Dad had spotted that our patio doors needed additional security and had fitted two top and bottom lockable bolts and so they didn't manage to get in thankfully. It was enough of a scare though that I invested in replacing the patio doors and the old tired side door with brand new UPVC double glazed doors with special ABS locks that are anti-snap.
Anyway, I returned from a busy day at work on Thursday at 8.30pm with Lebanese takeaway in hand and tried to open my front door. It wouldn't open so I assumed the cats had maybe knocked something down in front of the door, so I went around the back in the dark and saw some weird white stuff which I then realised was glass, I gasped as I wasn't sure what it was and when I realised it was a break in, I had no idea if the burglars were still there. I ran to my next door neighbour (Who moved in during the summer, but the extend of our conversation had been to swap names and shake hands and I'd not really seen him since) and knocked on the door as my husband was down in Devon and so I was staying by myself that night. I explained that I'd been burgled and he handed me the phone and I called the police. I initially dialled 101 as I wasn't sure if it was an emergency, but when I though that actually there might still be people in my house, I changed to 999 and they sent 2 police cars around.
Whilst we were waiting, my neighbour and his house mate put on shoes and helped me try and spot the cats - I was most worried about Marla who doesn't go outside as she gets lost, but we waited until the Police arrived and went into the house. I looked through the lounge window and could see straight away that the TV had been taken. The police arrived within about 5 minutes and got out their hitting sticks or probably as I think they're professional known to be - asps. 3 of the officers went through the house and came out of the front door. Whilst I was waiting outside I mentioned that my husband was down in Devon visiting his brother and they asked if he might have been involved - which of course wasn't true!
My first question when they came outside, was if they'd seen Marla or as I said "A white fluffy weird looking cat" and they had, I managed to catch her and locked her into my car so that she couldn't escape. I saw Willow run down the stairs, but I couldn't see Pocky and was really worried as she needed medicine for her Thyroid problem.
The police took me into the house so I could see what had been taken - strangely as well as the TV they'd taken our PS3, but left our PS2 and Nintendo Wii and not taken any DVDs or games. They'd taken my Netbook - on which most of the blog was authored and then a chintzy piggy bank of 5ps and coppers. They'd been upstairs and gone through all my clothes in my drawers and wardrobes, but hadn't found anything as I don't have any bling jewellery anyway and also the house is still a tip whilst the redecorating is finished, so I would have trouble myself finding anything of value as it's all boxed up and mixed together. I was also pleased that they'd not discovered the external hard drive in a well hidden, on display place and had left my Tower PC alone.
One of the police officers stayed with me to take my statement and the others made "house to house" enquiries. My neighbour remembered hearing voices during the evening, but hadn't seen anything and his housemate had been in all day as he was ill.
The police asked if I minded being filmed - apparently the BBC and Rav Wilding were doing a special on burglaries in Leeds - I said that it would be fine - especially as I like Rav, but he never turned up, so there must have been more interesting or photogenic burglaries that evening I guess.
The police asked if I knew anyone who could secure my door and so I rang Gav - the guy who has been helping me re-plaster as he's really handy and knows pretty much everything - I work with his wife and she called to say that he was on his way and see how I was. I also texted my cousin who lies in Leeds to ask if she knew anyone who could board the door in case I couldn't get hold of Gav and her partner replied to say that she was on her way around.
The SOCO person arrived and it was like watching CSI as he used a torch to find footprints on my new lounge floor and lift them off with a special metallic dust. Just from looking at them he knew that the burglars had been wearing Addidas and Nike Air trainers, unfortunately he was also able to establish they'd worn gloves so couldn't get any finger prints. When he'd finished down by the back door Gav fitted a board to make it all secure and my cousin made everyone tea - I had some with sugar as I was in a bit of shock and hadn't eaten at all since 12pm. The officer taking my statement was lovely and was really interested in the copy of God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens which was on the dining room table. I explained that it was my husband's and we had an interesting conversation about religion - he was Muslim but very interested in hearing about other people's beliefs, although mentioned that he was a lot less keen about the prospect of being on TV with Rav Wilding who he'd met earlier in the toilets.
After the Police had left and Gav had finished securing the door I tidied up my clothes and the drawers and my cousin cleared up the glass inside and I managed to coax Willow and Pocky back to the house who were terrified. I managed to feed Pocky her thyroid medicine and then settled them in and then went back to my cousins's for the night as I was a bit too full of adrenaline to want to stay in the house by myself. I did find it hard to leave the cats though. As much as I am annoyed at the TV being taken etc. I was most concerned that the cats were OK as they can't be replaced in PC World. They are still taking time to calm back down, but are getting there.
The next day I got up and had breakfast with my cousin and her kids who didn't even seem to think it strange or ask why I was there and then headed home to speak to the insurance company and finish tidying up. Another SOCO officer arrived as he wanted a glass sample from the door - they'd found suspects with glass in their shoes so he said that there was a chance I could see my stuff again (not holding out much hope though it has to be said). I also purchased a cheap TV so that I have something to watch whist insurance company sort out a replacement - I had a minor operation on Saturday under general anaesthetic (more about this later) so I wanted some access to entertainment whilst recovering. I also wanted to create a timeframe for the police as I knew I had a lot of recordings on Sky+. I was able to tell the police that the burglary occurred between 6.30pm and 7pm (Got to Dance recorded fine from 6 - 6.30pm) and 7pm (The Big Bang Theory at 7pm failed as they'd unplugged all of the electronic devices including the Sky Box when stealing the PS3 and TV).
So what have I learned or decided from all this?
- My friends, family and neighbours are all lovely people who have helped me more than I would have expected.
- I will be upgrading to a good burglar alarm which works well with a cat infested house.
- I will be recording the serial numbers of everything electrical of value and marking them all with UV pens (this I had already done for most things, but not my Netbook).
- I will get to know my neighbours a little better.
- I will get the fence at the back of my house repaired and get a lock fitted onto the side gate.
- The Police in Leeds were lovely to me and they also came back to patrol the next evening and check in that I was ok (Marla got on the officer's lap!)
- I will continue to be grateful that my cats are ok and that I'm ok - it does make you realise that material possessions are handy, but friends, family and pets are what matter most.
That is tough Lucy. Its a horrible experience,I know as it happened to me when i was in Canada. Local scallies Ill bet! At least you are insured but the violation takes a while to go.Thinking of you kidda :)
ReplyDeleteAndy
What a horrible thing to happen :( I really hope that once the dust settles you'll be able to put it behind you.
ReplyDeleteSmartwater, though. Think UV pens for the 2010s :)
(notagain)