General Chat

An unhappy tale follows........

When you leave your home, even for a very short time, think about the security. I left for less than an hour, with doors and windows locked, thankfully keys removed from window locks. It was a terrible experience to return to two burglars fleeing from your home as they saw your car drive in. There is little of material value missing - just a digital camera and a few small items. The new computer, still shiny and hardly used was half unplugged and ready to go. The mess from a broken rear window was awful and after a week, we are still finding slivers of glass in the carpets. The police were on the scene within 5 mins and have been wonderful. The time it takes to sort out insurance is not so wonderful and extremely stressful. All my family history files are now packed away as I have lost heart in anything. We just ask ourselves why we had become so lax at putting on the burglar alarm - silly really. Just take heed - you never know who is about!!

I do not apologise for adding more....... Picture every draw and cupboard open and items thrown. A couple of treasured ornaments broken on the window sill from the impact. All this will remain with me. The one thing, of little value to anyone, is my treasured address book, looking like a filofax. There will be people thinking I didn't want to send a birthday or christmas card, but their addresses are gone now.

Unhappy I am so sorry it also happened to me a few years ago.My mum collected the kids from mine took them to hers I went to work she phoned a few hours later to tell me my dog was at her house(A real live lassie she lives a mile away but took him often! he must have know something wasnt right and ran to her house!). They had kicked him out (thankfully)and ransacked the house They ripped the internal alarm off the wall inside took the usual TV electrical stuff.luckily didnt make much mess took my duvet covers (cheeky people!) and went through my bedroom drawers! Police couldnt do anything sent SOCO round but nothing came back. It really hacks me off you work hard and some lazy so and so comes along and just takes all your hard earned stuff.There are not enough tough enough penalties for burglaries for the heart ache it causes. Take Care Jan x

So Sorry Unhappy Bunny, The worst that has happend to me is having my wallet stolen in a changing room. William The most likely reason for a 'return call' is what do you do - get the insurance - replace the goods - get burgled again and again and again. They know were the new stuff is. Bob

I too have experienced that sinking feeling on getting home and finding the front door wide open when it had been locked. We only lost a few trinkets, but the feeling that the sanctity and security of our home had been violated was the worst thing.

Dear unhappy bunny, feel for you, never happend to me......yet! I think it must feel so personal. My thoughts go out to you and that you haven't lost something that is sentimental, other than your filofax. Don't know what I would do without my dates wrote down. I keep on at my hubby for a camera, I would rather like to see who did it and shame them. So sorry, please take care, jo

It happened to us, early hours of Remembrance Sunday 2000. The worst part was that we were all in the house asleep. My daughter who was then just 18 months old had woken up crying and that must have scared them off. Very little was taken but what worried me more was that the nasty buggers left the front door open when they went. At that time my daughter had a habit of going downstairs if she woke to find me or my husband, and if we hadn't heard her cry and gone to her room that's what she would have done and she could so easily have walked straight out of the front door. They only took my purse, my husbands leather jacket and his work bag. Nothing irreplaceable on the face of it, but in the bag were the 3 rolls of camera film waiting to be taken for developing recording the first moments and days after our sons birth. We can never replace them and it hurt so much to find out we'd lost something so precious to us and so meaningless to anyone else. We asked the dustmen to look out for the bag during their rounds but to no avail. They found my husbands jacket and returned that which we thought was very sweet of them. The burglars were caught a few days later but the police didn't find any films and we were never told what happened to the burglars. I didn't ever feel our home had been violated as such, I just felt cheated of my memories and worried for my childrens safety. Eleanorx

A large proportion of burglaries are by addicts trying to raise cash for hard drugs. Why don't we just give these on prescription and provide treatment/counselling rather than encouraging a whole criminal network by prohibition?

unhappy bunny i am so sorry to hear that you have been burgled i would also be devastated if it happens to me. you dont have to be out for this to happen!!! my mum and dad were sat in their lounge eating their tea,it was a really hot evening so they had their back door open. (the back door is in view of the lounge).some nasty soul entered and stole mums handbag.she had to make numerous phone calls to cancell everything that was in her handbag the thing is my mum had just been to the bank that afternoon and had withdrawn her pension to pay her bills. the money was in her handbag!! people will go to any lenghts just to get drug money or the such like susie

I know how you feel as I have also been broken into, but the latest breakin that happend to my family was my son Bob, any of you who live in Exeter and read the Express & Echo will have had a laugh about this one. He shares a house with his friend who was out at the time getting engaged, Bob was in the cinama, with a lady friend when he got a call from his house sharing friend to say that they had been broken into, the back door had been smashed at about 8.30pm, just before xmas just gone, the cheeky theives onlytook underwear and their gym tops cleanand dirty!! yes they even went through the laundry baskets!! Xmas prezzies, money, electrical, CD's and other stuff was left behind. Yes it does sound funny but the reality of it is that there are some very sick people out there. They now have a security system in place, the cheeky theif also took a dog along with them.

Unhappy Bunny... I feel so upset for you. 22 years ago (1 year after losing my mum ...as if anything else could have gone wrong !) My dad & I got burgled while we were asleep in bed. My dad had got up ready for work & downstairs was a mess....drawers open...papers everywhere. They had taken a stash of money dad had hidden ( even I was not aware it existed ! ) They had got in a teeny, tiny bathroom window left open. The worst thing, was a can of freezing PR spray was left by the door. If we had come down & disturbed them, I'm under no doubt that it would have been sprayed in our eyes. Even though I don't live in the same house now. I have never had a good night sleep since, along with the money the burglers took, they took my peace of mind. ________________________________________________ My neighbours mother came home to find burglers in her home last year. They locked her in an understair cupboard, threatened to kill her & burn down the house. Took her pictures of her daughters wedding, took her address book & said to her if she phoned the police they would have all the addresses of her family. ( this was only a threat & he diddn't do this ) With great luck, the burglar had left some small spots of blood from a cut hand, on the duvet. A few weeks later the police had found him & convicted him due to the DNA he kindly left. _______________________________________________ I know how you feel, but don't let this ruin your life. At least no-one was hurt. Take care Elaine x

Unhappy Bunny, So sorry to hear your news. Please take care of yourself Best Wishes Sue

Unhappy bunny So sorry. You have an alarm? Be aware,the police no longer respond to domestic alarms due to large percentage of false alarms! I know this, because a neighbours alarm went off the other evening, my 999 call met with no response, unless I could tell them that something was happening. My reply not printable. To the effect that I'm not putting myself at risk to check the property in the dark. My own alarm - I pay £25 a month to ensure I get a First Response for the police, so don't think paying your rates helps. Badger Bill

I suppose it is more important that no-one gets hurt. I was so pleased that, some years ago, my rather deaf parents had the TV on so loud that they did not hear the thief crawl through the open window, yes, bungalow, summer's evening, and rifle a jewel box. My Mum quickly discovered the now wide open window and while 'phoning a neighbour to warn them, they too were being burgled. The devil was doing the rounds. The police caught him eventually but no sign of all the sentimental things, including a rather nice pair of gold earings I had bought Mum and was hoping to inherit some day! Hey, though, want to hear a funny one. True, honest. My friend's brother had a rather unpleasant habit of using empty wine bottles when he was caught short during the night after a Saturday night binge. He was even too lazy to dispose of them in the morning and they stacked up under the bed. Eventually he managed to get them and their disgusting contents as far as the front door, for the dustbin men to collect. Oh, yes, you know what happened next. They were stolen! Let's hope it was one of the burglars mentioned here.

... and my radio was taken from my car, which was parked outside my house, a few years ago, the radio being more valuable than the car. They sliced out the front window and placed it, cracked, next to the car. They chose a really wet night so in the morning the car was full of water. Seats, carpet, widndscreen, all damaged. Then I very stupidly claimed for the radio on my insurance and lost my no-claims bonus. And what for? Oh, said the police, kids steal them and store them in their bedrooms, just for the hell of it. What was really galling was that I even left them the instructions and they took those too. Daft, but I have never felt so murderous - it was all so futile.

... but, the funniest was, and we really do live in a quiet safe area, was the time my husband followed me up to bed and asked if I knew our neighbours' wheels were missing off her car. Did I think our neighbour knew? I suggested we tell them. We were sort of in a state of disbelief but nothing compared to our neighbours who opened their front door to find their car standing on its axles. Even their big labrador hadn't heard the cheeky sods. Thing was, we had just returned from another neighbour's BBQ - it was only about 10.30. Now we all have automatic floodlights that beam all round our courtyard like searchlights. Scares the heck out of our cats!

Thank you all for the sympathy/empathy. I am now terrified to go out or come back again. It is hard to believe life with ever be the same.

Our neighbours across the road was burgled before Christmas, lost mainly jewellery, no mindless vandalism fortunately, so a professional rather than kids. It didn't help that time, but we're in the unusual postion these days of being in a Close of 21 houses where most people know each other and unusual movements get noticed. So often, though, you talk to other people who've been in the same house for several years and don't even know the names of their next door neighbours, so sad! Uncaring or just exceptionally reserved, I wonder?

Hi unhappy bunny, Sorry this has happened to you, I cannot imagine how you must be feeling. I had my rather large bag stolen whilst I was at work on my own. It was very difficult to believe it had happened. I went to the loo whilst my bag was stolen.(At least I had taken my lunch out first!) After searching for my bag for about an hour I found the fire exit door was open!! It was quite scary to think that I might have been watched by someone. I did find it hard to accept for a long time. Hope you return to your normal self before too long. Jill