Opportunist Thief?

[mrsflibble]

we had someone walking round on our flat roof of the extension last night either trying to get into our house or next door!
I know who it is as well, he's a mate of our neighbours :rolleyes: someone outght to tell the little f***er you DON'T S*** ON YOUR OWN PATCH YOU TWERP!!!

basically, we'd settled down to a nice evening in front of season 3 of battestar galactica when I heard the noise, as did james. we went separate ways, he upstairs to peek outa the window up there, me quietly out the back door to have a look.our garden is very shaded at night and i was wearing a black coat so i stayed in the shadows. I could see bloke hiding in what he thought were shadows; they are but to a lesser exten than he thought. I signaled to James to come down, (he could see me cos he knew what to look for) he took up my position in the garden while I went and got the camera and flashgun. mwahaha, don't mess with a photographer.

James being taller did the photography. we didnt get any actual pics of the bloke, but the flash and James shouting "say cheese" sent him out through the accessway next to our house and onto his scooter. The bloke who'd been on our roo will have no idea that we got n actual pictures of him. We reckon someone else in the quad must have heard the commotion too cos literally 10 mins later we had the police helicopter hovering over our house again and it stayed for about half an hour. it's the first time that's felt comforting rather than annoying and I now get why we seem to have that thing hovering over our house once a fortnight.

I'm now really worried about going away this weekend, but I can't cancel it. it's a lucrative job grrr!!!!

we're going to get an extra lock for sophie's bedroom window, a security light, 4 packets of marbles to spread out on the flat roof and I'm going to put the only irreplacably valuable thing we have onto my external hard drive and leave it with my mum; the folder of sophie's baby pics and videos. everything else we own is replacable if the worst happened and we are insured.

I'm also going to chat to the bloke on the other side, he's an ex cop who's now a PI so i'm going to leave our mobile numbers with him in case anything happens, and my mum's number cos she is nearer and has a key.

I'm just so fricking angry!

this is a pic to illustrate what i mean. it's an aerial photo of our quad of houses.... it sort of shows how someone else might have seen it, and also how the bloke got up there in the first place.

red arrow is where our house is, and you can see the big flat roof. purple/pink arrow si where his entryway is.

[red]

if there was a helicopter.. chances are they were chasing him, and he was trying to hide there, being somewhere he knows, rather than trying to break in. Really - I don't see the police sending a helicopter round in ten minutes, if you reported a man on the roof.
Have you contacted the police?

Once again Mrs F i would urge you not to give to much info away on th'internet..

[StripyPixieSocks]

It makes you really angry doesn't it? He might not be back if he thinks you had a photo of him but I wish you all the best this weekend though I know you will be worried

I really hate the police helicopters too it always gives me the willies when it's hovering nearby or keeps circling around above the house as I always wonder who it's searching / chasing *shudders*

[jim]

Dear Mrs Flibble,

So sorry to hear it. There are some real shits about! Not that I'm recommending it or anything but a friend of mine drove lots of four inch nails through several bits of plank and left them point upwards on his flat roof as if kids had thrown them up there .........

The idea of the flash and "Say cheese!" was wonderful, he was probably wearing brown knickers as a result,

Love and Peace
Jim

[Thomzo]

Mrs F. Please don't tell us all you are going away and then put a photo of your house on the internet. You don't know who might be lurking. It does sound as if the helicopter was chasing someone. I had the police helicopter hovering over the fields at the back of my house the other evening. It was quite worrying. My house is quite secure from the front but I get a bit complacent at the back as the garden is completely enclosed. It was a big reminder to me to lock all my doors and make sure the chooks were secure.

Zoe

[Graye]

If he was just an opportunist looking for something to steal I expect you will have done more than enough to scare him away for ever. They aren't the bravest people on the planet, just stupid.

If he was a "friend" of your neighbour looking to get into his place perhaps you should tell the neighbour? He might not have actually invited him.

Anyway, one of those movement sensor lights will probably do the trick if you can angle it for anyone on the flat roof or your garden. Probably be nice for you when you go outdoors too.

Perhaps a chat with the local police might help in the circumstances too?

I don't suppose he was overly bright if he was doing that with your car presumably parked outside so I don't imagine he will be much of a threat while you are away, although I do agree that perhaps not showing your location might be a good idea. What a pity you didn't actually get a picture of him though, I would love to have seen it!

I like the marbles too. Or how about a rather large amount of tins cans all strung together? Can you imagine the noise they will make and how nasty to be tangled in the string?

[Ellendra]

There are lots of ideas online for home-made traps, some more cruel than others. I'm about to go to work or I'd post some.

Before you leave, photograph every room in the house. You may have insurance, but remember that they will want proof that everything you claim was stolen was actually owned to begin with.

[Rosendula]

I'm sorry you've had such a scare MrsFlibble. I've lived in some dodgey areas in the past and I know what it's like, believe me.

I think the camera trick was a good one, so well done for the quick thinking there. A couple of things I would like to mention:

If you're getting an extra lock for Sophie's window, there's a chance she might ask why. What are you going to tell her? If you tell the truth it might scare her and then you're going to have a frantic child on your hands who won't go to bed on a night and will have nightmares . Personally, I would put extra locks on all the windows so she doesn't feel it is just her/her room that is vulnerable.

The marbles on the roof - I like that one. However, in this crazy society I wonder if a potential burglar could sue you if they hurt themselves as a result of the marbles. Anyone know the legal side of this?

Security light - make sure it's a motion sensitive one (and don't leave your washing out on a night as they set them off).


There was one time when I had a moped and lived in a maisonette. People were always trying to steal the moped and succeeded twice, despite there being a 10' wall with anti-climb paint on top around the communal garden, both gates and the door to the garden were locked, and the moped had a D-ring bike lock through the wheel. The second time it was stolen it was also inside a locked shed! Anyway, one time I was looking out of my window and saw a truck pull up and 3 or 4 young men get out. One jumped over the wall and unlocked the gate for the others and they all went straight up to my bike and started talking about it. I just had the feeling they were going to come back one night and pick it up and put it on the back of the truck. So I wrote down the registration number of the truck, put it in a waterproof bag and fastened it onto my bike. On that occasion the moped stayed where it was! Could you do something similar? Your garden looks quite enclosed. Could you put the name of this person on a piece of paper and stick it in your window? Or if you don't know it, put down what you do know, ie., 'friend of so-and-so from two doors up (or where-ever)'? If no-one can see it without being in your garden, no-one can be upset by it without bringing it on themselves, if you see what I mean.

[mrsflibble]

to those worried about the pic of my house, have you any idea how many quads of council/ex council houses thee are in my town that look like that?! many many many lol!!! I've also pixelated the road names.

but will remove so i dont get nagged; i know you're only looking out for me but still, I'm not stupid lol!

I shall photograph the rooms too, that's a good idea.

the marbles thing could be put down to a toddler posting them out of a window; barbed wire can't hahaha! i'm fairly sure if you put up a sign stating "barbed wire is in use enter at your own risk" then nobody can sue; but I dont know if that just goes for industrial buildings.

[Rod in Japan]

I would have thought him being a mate of your neighbour's would be a good place to start...

[Russian Doll]

to those worried about the pic of my house, have you any idea how many quads of council/ex council houses thee are in my town that look like that?! many many many lol!!! I've also pixelated the road names.

but will remove so i dont get nagged; i know you're only looking out for me but still, I'm not stupid lol!

I shall photograph the rooms too, that's a good idea.

the marbles thing could be put down to a toddler posting them out of a window; barbed wire can't hahaha! i'm fairly sure if you put up a sign stating "barbed wire is in use enter at your own risk" then nobody can sue; but I dont know if that just goes for industrial buildings.

hun you cant put barbed wire up without your landlords permissionas he would get sued...

also drop stuff to me if your worried i can lock it up

[mrsflibble]

if he was escaping something, why was his scooter on full view outside? the police know him and know his vehicle lol!

I've been researching it; you CAN use barbed wire so long as you 1. put up a sign stating "barbed wire is in use at this property" 1.a. the surface you're putting it on does not face a highway, and as an extra precaution you 2. check your home insurance to see if they will cover you if someone claims against you; but if you have signs stating you're using barbed wire, they wont have a leg to stand on according to a solicitor friend. this is all the responsability of the tenant not the landlord; so long as it is removed when you move out. the term "barbed wire" covers anything from actual barbed wire to carpet gripper rods with spikes and concrete with glass sticking out of it. that last one just sounds evil, and is not removable so we can't use that hahaha!
(see? been doing my homework lol! got contacts me, thumb in all kinds of legal pies....!)

most people go for the natural method of using a spiky bush. i can't do that across the bottom fence because of the gate (unless I trail brambles over the top of the gate and keep a check on it!), but a few well placed planters with spiky plants in on the flat roof might not go amiss!
so long as they're not too big, only extend along the roof as far as a tall person's arm could from the accessway AND they sit very near to the walls so as to be supported they should be fine and they wont impede drainage. I checked with Mr.Ex-Plod next door and he's all for it. he said he'd help James get them up there cos he's fairly sure who nicked his bike...... lol!

I'm feeling much better about it all, and tomorrow when we have the car back (jim's doing overtime today) after we're back from visiting my pregnant friend we'll be taking a little trip to homebase for some nicely spikey, non deep rooting plants that will be happy in planters.

[Graye]

That's very interesting! I thought I had read somewhere very recently that it's illegal to even SELL barbed wire in the UK now? I thought it was strange at the time. Shows you can't believe everything you read apparently...

[mrsflibble]

I found my info through google on the manchester police website. I know i dont klive in manchester, but my town's police site didnt offer much help.