House Break-in

It's 7 in the morning, Saturday, and I'm not sleeping. I always sleep till about 2pm on Saturdays, but this morning I had an unwanted guest in my flat... I'm still so freaked out!

I live on the second floor of a block of flats. My mom went on holiday for a month leaving me and my brother home alone. It so came that I had left the light on in my room while watching South Park on the PC and fell asleep...

I slightly opened my eyes, still damn sleepy and I see half a face peeping at me through the door. OK, I thought, it's my brother... but damn, why's he sneaking so much around? The floor creaked a few times in the corridor. S**t! WTF!? I grab a beer bottle by my bed, slowly enter the bedroom, and start to wake my brother up, shouting, as he's a sleepy-head. He jumps up and we run into the kitchen, on the way I check the bathroom... nothing.


(Red line - burglar // Blue line - Me // Bold blue line - my brother and I)

The kitchen window was open apart, the plants from the window-seal carefully placed on the refrigirator. Checked the flat again, to make sure that none of the 'guests' remained concealed somewhere.

Upon inspection, I discovered the way the burglar (btw, the mother***er only managed to take a few cigarettes from the kitchen table) managed to break in. I'll post a few photos later as I cannot find the camera USB cable around.

What if... i thought.. the kitchen, full of knives, forks... Damn, I smoked three cigarettes one after another and I'm still freaked out. I ordered myself a pneumatic self-defence automatic (battery powered) machine gun this morning, hope that it comes soon.


(МР-661K Automatic Machine Gun)

Anyway, the consequences could have been very tragic if the burglar would have been more determined to succeed.

The provocative factor was present too. Many people leave their flats for the weekend, camping, hiking and stuff, and many leave the lights on, just in case someone would want to break in. The burglar in my case was sure enough that my flat was empty, because of lights on at 5-6 in the morning... I hope he laid in his pants too!

This is the first time I had such an experience - I'm totally shocked ! What is to be done in such a situation? And what can be done to prevent such a**holes from breaking in to our flats?

P.S. Please excuse my language, got really emotional here... ...every recalling of that peering eye gives me the creeps!

[edit on 22/6/07 by MastaG]

That is indeed very creepy.Creepy seeing the half face in the door way. Good thinking getting yourself prepared. Funny machine gun..You do have a right to be emotional. Did you find out who they were and why they only took cigarettes?

Well, he took the cigarettes only because he didn't expect to find anyone in the house, he supposidely checked the sitting room just in case to find me sleeping there, and he fled..

I almost at once dressed up, tightened my boots and went out in hope to find something out, and I tried calling the Emergency service from my mobile phone with no success. Walked around the block and saw three alcoholic type hobos - two men, one woman, acting nervous, smoking (presuambly my brother's cigarettes). Couldn't really identify them, but very suspicious. They spotted me and dispersed almost at once. I slowly followed one of them, still trying to get the Emergency to pick up their phone. Turned around to look behind me a few times and the lad just disappeared! On my way back home I caught sight of the other man, who later just disappeared across the road. I actually started looking at the smoked cigarette buds around, found the brand ("Winston") lying, but who knows, anyone can smoke Winston.

Anyway, I didn't even call the police, they wouldn't even move a muscle because of 3 stolen cigarettes. And boy, oh, boy if any other mother****er tries to enter my flat without my permisison he'll meet six hundred steel pellets in just one minute.

What can we do to protect ourselves, our families and our homes? Besides of course home-alams, and machine guns ...

Perhaps I should've placed the beer bottle upside down, concealed at the window, so that it would've smashed and woken everyone up upon window opening.. Where have I seen that?.. .."Conspiracy Theory" starring Mel Gibson, great film.

Just thank yer lucky stars that you're unharmed Masta...I've had the same happen to me and it left me shaking for a fair while

It would seem that your ma's absence had been noticed, but your and your brother's presence wasn't. The problem you now face is that the burglar has had chance to have a recce of what sell-ables and valuables there are around the flat and will in all likelihood make a return visit.

First, assume that keys or any spares have been taken and get a new or additional front-door lock fitted...preferably a mortice-type that can be locked with a key from the inside. This will force any intruder to exit the same way they came in, rather than just being able to casually walk out the front-door with your stuff in a bag over their shoulder

If the only point of entrance (other than the front-door) is via the window, you can make a nice nasty surprise for the scumbag if they return...

Get yourself several 20-30cm sqares of 5mm thick plywood, hammer, 30mm wire-nails, and a file...hammer nails through the wooden squares at 2-3cm intervals so you have a wide-spaced grid-type pattern, flip the wood over so its now pointy-side up and file the pointed ends down so they are even sharper. (try and do this at a friend's house so the sound of sawing and hammering won't be overheard and give the surprise away)

Place the boards points-up under the window, and move all furniture, refrigerator, chairs...anything that could be climbed-on as they would step through the window....if they return via the same route and jump down from the window on entry, they'll find themselves with perforated feet and very unlikely to be able to walk at all...hehehehe



[edit on 23-6-2007 by citizen smith]

I have to say citizen smith that is the best idea I have ever heard! For sure if you nabbed the bad guys that way they would never break into anyones home again.Also makes for a good booby trap idea.

MastaG- It's natural to feel shaken up after an incident like that.I agree that also you could be in for a return visit.Do everything possible to make it look like someone is home(leave on alternating lights , or a tv or radio).Citizen smiths idea is a good one but it requires the burglar to enter your home.Perhaps you should look into some kind of home security system.Not just to protect your valuables but for your piece of mind.

The best way to defeat these scum is to become the burglar...put yourself in their shoes and try and look around your flat as your intruder did. As the saying goes "Set a thief to catch a thief"

A relatively simple and unobtrusive idea would be to plant decorative bushes that grow nasty spiky thorns as well as aesthetic foliage under the windows as a more permanent deterrent

Citizen Smith you are positively evil - I like it.

As far as thorny shrubs goes, Pyracantha is unsurpassed for this purpose, the thorns come up the 3 inches long and there is no avoiding them.

The best defence in my opinion from break-in is ensuring that they can only get in with the maximum amount of noise. Anything noisy warns you, wakes up dogs in the area and very few of these cowards will stick around long enough to check whether they're is any one about to be disturbed. Everyone ignores alarms but stack your window cills with breakables and metal containers and they will likely not bother to try and get in.

Also in terms of prevention, keep windows covered with blinds and net curtains, if they can't see the lay out of your home they are less likely to break in. I live in an area that suffers mostly from opportunistic "smack - heads" so it is mainly a question of not making it too easy.

That said and done if it wasn't for the cats I might be tempted to create a nail board ala Citizen Smith - love it.

The best home protection system you can get would be a dog, a medium sized dog is more than a match for any human. It obviosuly depends if you have time and space for a dog but its a great inventment.

I have a labrador who wouldn't ever let any piece of scum burglar take anything. He hasn't been trained to do it as such, i made a point of not letting him get too friendly with every single human he sees so he would work as a bit of a guard dog.

I do like the idea of the nails, i would love to see that work atleast once but i donno fi you would fall foul of the law for it.

Originally posted by manta
I do like the idea of the nails, i would love to see that work atleast once but i donno fi you would fall foul of the law for it.

I'm pretty certain that you'd not be prosecuted as any booby-traps you set are inside your property boundary and an intruder would have to make a deliberate violation of your property to become injured, as in Masta's case, the intruder had to climb up to a second-storey window to gain access

The only time you'd be in the grey and possibly liable would be if the traps were set on the outside, within the grounds of the property, as a burglar could claim that no prior warning notice was given (ala 'beware of the dog' signs on a gate leading to the front door)

Getting creative with trap ideas is a good way of dealing with that sickening shaky feeling you get after the event tho.

Well, I've already replaced the plants on the sill, so that they'll surely fall when the window is opened. I've hammered the bolts on the windows extra hard. The door cannot be opened from the inside.

And, smith I'm pretty sure that it was one casual break-in, unplanned, and they didn't know that my mum was absent, because she's been absent for two whole weeks now... nice boobytrap idea!

Thanks for the replies everyone! Hope to get some more tips!

Be very careful with setting any traps in your house. From a legal perspective, you may be prosecuted for injuring an intruder.

In the UK it is the residents responsibility to ensure that their property is a safe environment to all who may enter it. Believe it or not, this is not restricted to those who enter with your permission. In other words, if an intruder injures themselves when they break into your house due to a boob trap you have laid, you are liable for prosecution. This applies equally to both te inside and outside of the property.

The very same thing happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. there had been some problems with kids breaking into houses in the area, so my mate decides to embed some glass at the top of the garden wall at the back of his house. Sure enough some scrote tries climbing the wall one night and slices his hand on the glass. He gets into the house and my mate catches him (by sticking a 12ga O/U shotgun up his nose). The toerag was arrested and charged with B&E.

Later the wee git actually counter prosecuted against my mate for the injuries to his hand, and my mate ended up having to pay out.

Thorn bushes (a la Smith) are a good idea though, as they can be justified as decorative items that are there for aesthetic reasons. The best idea I've seen here is the big dog. Again be careful with the breed and the training you give it, as training a dog to attack can be seen as pre-meditation. The best thing you can do is train it to react noisily to intruders, and use it as an early warning system.

If there are any windows that open but are not used, hammer a nail through the frame to keep it closed. This is not an option with double glazing, but this is more secure anyway.

Put obsticles in front of windows, e.g. flower pots, ornaments, picture frames etc. They will make a noise if moved. Install simple locks on as many inside doors as possible and use them at night. This will slow any intruders, making it less likely for them to stay any amount of time. Make sure that any entrances to the house have proper locks with decent, full-depth screws.

Keep valuables out of sight. Make your house less inviting than the next one.

Keep a phone beside you at night, and make sure it is charged. If in doubt, call the cops. It's what they're there for. Also keep a large heavy torch beside you at night (somewhere along the lines of a 4 'D' cell Maglight). It is easier to justify to the police than a bat if you clock someone with it, and can even double up as a light!

If someone does get in, make a lot of noise, get the lights on and reduce confrontation as much as possible. Secure any vulnerable people in your house and call the police. It is easier to replace property than replace a life. If you are left with no other option but confrontation, react with maximum aggression, maximum noise, maximum speed, and don't stop until you feel that you are no longer in danger.

Home security is limited only by your immagination, but be aware of the legalities. I know the old "better tried by 12 than carried by 6" cliche, but it would be very ironic if you were prosecuted for defending your property.

[edit on 23-6-2007 by PaddyInf]

I have a wierd system as do most americans I assume: leave stuff strewn all over the bloody place so that if anyone enters they make one heck of a racket getting through. Even in broad daylight when you can see it is bad enough in my apartment. Anyway, if anyone enters my home they will be starting down a rifle and if I do not have the time for that they will get a wallop from my martial arts equipment. I have one set laid near my bed at all times so I can raise up and start fighting in an instant. I guess you could say I rigged my home for my own fighting style: street fighting.

Having to pay the person who breaks in for injuring themselves? THAT IS BS! That should be repealed at ONCE! If you B&E someones home, whatever they do to you is LEGAL, after all they are endangering YOU.

I would now like to bring up one MESSED UP event that happened to a guy I knew in the south pacific:

I can not remember his name anymore, however what happened to him almost killed him. He was/is a teacher and has been a lifelong member of the peace corp and married a Vietnamese woman, never went to Vietnam, he was a protester and still was when I met him. He had gotten into a VERY heated fight with some parents and a student at the school where I worked. Apparently the studen attacked him after being flunked, so the police came, hauled the kid away and released the kid IMMEDIATLY afterwords because his relatives were cops. He lived not 200 yards away from me down the hill, he lived in a one story apartment next to ANOTHER guy I knew: Dan. Dan was ex-special forces, later this would save the other guys life.
Sometime around midnight three guys showed up at his home (this is what I was told by his neighbor Dan who lived right next to him in the apartment across from him) and broke in silently. They proceded to try and choke his wife to death, and beat him with metal baseball bats. They made one mistake: they made the error of not being fast on taking the daughter who was THE best athlete on the island, could outrun ANYONE hands down. They tried to get her but she broke free and basically FLEW out of the house screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs into the person who lived in the house below them. Dan heard this and jumped out of bed in his underware (no one sane on the island who was male wore clothing to bed unless it was underware) and broke out his carbine. He went hell bent into his neighbors home and started to whale on the guys who had a freak out and tried to run. He told me he got a few slugs out but they got away, they were already running OUT the door as he went IN the door because they knew they were screwed. He watched where they went before heading into the home to check if the guy I knew was alive or not along with his wife. Why he did not fire I do not know really, but even if he did the moronic and horribly corrupt island government would have skinned him alive for certain for it. His wife Karen was already dialing 9-11 while he took the guy and his wife out of the home into the parking lot so the ambulance could get them. They were a total wreck, metal baseball bats were used on the guy and the wife was mostly beaten with fists, lucky her. The guy was almost in acoma from the beating and bleeding profusely, the wife was terrified, the daughter having a heart attack and what did the police do? They dropped it. They REFUSED to take action. REFUSED! Here is the catch: the daughter in her last act of defiance tried to hit one of them with a flashlight, she got the guys FACE. Even though the island was 12 miles by 6 miles wide... So there is NO WAY you could hide... The police said there was no one in existance who had a face like that... BS! Anyway, I never saw the guy for a year and a half untill I met him again at the post office. He was still on the island but he told me he was leaving that week and explained what happened after the attempted murder in greater detail. SOMEONE (I suppose Dan, good gods I have no idea what kind of contacts this guy had) pulled some strings and put him under protection, they shipped in some continental USA federal FBI agents to protect him and put him in federal housing on the island in the only gated community available. He was not leaving because his wife could not come to the USA because she lacked a greencard and the feds took over a YEAR to get it through! Even though he was on someone hit list!
Here is the unpleasant part, Dan told me those three guys who he had to let go went MY WAY. Nice huh?

Anyway, that just shows the idiocy of the police, this incident took place on/in: Saipan (island), Terrority of the USA, CNMI, 1999.

Your darn lucky there were not serious, otherwise your story may or may not exist right now. Not sure about you, but I hate the BB guns, if I want home protection give me an MP-5, Uzi, or some other smaller uzi like weapon for indoor fighting. Also, keep a knife handy, if they take out your gun, switch to secondary and keep going, because at that point they want you DEAD so what have you got to loose? Nothing. Also, buy a book on some basic hand to hand fighting, it will help. Do not study the prissy kind ment for matted rooms, practice STREET fighting, that will save your life, not fancy kung-fu moves or Aikaido. Real life fighting is dirty, people gang up, the two I mentioned are "honorable battle" based of mono a mono, so I suggest you practice some army combat.

Originally posted by Vekar
Having to pay the person who breaks in for injuring themselves? THAT IS BS! That should be repealed at ONCE! If you B&E someones home, whatever they do to you is LEGAL, after all they are endangering YOU.

I only wish it was BS, but that is the law in the UK. Using reasonable physical force to defend yourself in your home is perfectly legal. However setting a trap etc is seen as premeditation and thus illegal. If you do actually beat the crap out of an attacker, you'd better be able to justify the force that you used to the police. You must be able to proove that you believed your safety was in jeapordy.

It's a sh1tty situation, but it's still the law. Luckily for me I'm in the process of applying for a US work visa and will be moving to Texas in the next couple of years. The laws there are a bit more sensible for this type of thing.

Check and see is all of your checkbooks are there, then if they are check each book to see if there are any missing checks. This happened to my daughter, she awoke because someone was trying to take her rings off of her finger, they could not get them off because she was pregnant and her fingers were swollen. Once they realized they had almost woke her up, they quit trying, but she was awake and pretended to be asleep.

Her husband would not believe her when she woke him up, he said she had a nightmare, and so she sat up all night terrified to move, then finally when her husband got up he found the window open and their blank checks were gone. She called the police and canceled the account immediately and reported them stolen.

I live in a pretty quiet area just on the border of the countryside and my house is situated in a very silent cul-de-sac. About 3 months ago after the Mrs and kids had gone to bed i was preparing to go to bed myself ie having the last cigarette of the night in my kitchen. All the lights were out and in the silence i could hear whispers at the bottom of my garden and could see the shapes of two adult males against the tree line.

My first instinct was my young family upstairs. At the speed of a thousand gazelles i was upstairs and said to the Mrs "dont ask questions, Get the Kids into the top bedroom and lock the door dont come out until i say"

I came down and went out of the front of the house closing the front door silently. I went down the side of my house and crept into the tree line running the length of my garden. It was bloody immense like being back in Military on a covert op or something bloody heart was banging away and the adreneline was pumping. My idea was to ambush the bast**ds as they came past. I could see 2 males both with hooded tops pulled up over their head. Both were around 6ft tall and one was quite a big fella. I decided to go for him first. Straight out of the tree i came flying with fists knocking him to the floor with 2 punches and he was out cold. "That was too easy i thought" so i turned to the other who was know backing away one quick jab had him falling into my wheelie bin which i turn i decided to pick up and throw at him.

The the screaming started from this fella "We are only getting our ball mate im sorry, We are only getting our ball" To cut a long story short a quick search revealed these 2 lads to be 17 year olds who had kicked their ball into my garden and decided to retrieve it. All the neighbours were now looking out of windows and one had called the police. It was me myself who was taken to the police station to give a statement. I was held there for 2 hours whilst the lads parents decided if they wanted to prosecute me. They decided they didnt and i was sent home. The next day the 2 lads knocked at my door to offer an apology with their parents stood behind.

Long story i know but you have to be so careful over here in UK. In US i would imagine you getting away with defending your property but over here you gotta tread carefully. There was a time when a Englishmans house was his castle, Mine still is im just not allowed to defend it as i would like too

Being a scouser doesnt help with the police up here either

[edit on 24-6-2007 by thesaint]

The night's over now, it's past morning, and everything was still. I'd been preparing to meet another break-in the past night. I concealed a kitchen knife wrapped in a home-made pocket behind a cupboard in a hands reach from my bed. I had an empty glass jar by my bedside in case I'd had to throw it at the bast@rd. Some secondary improvised weapons were prepared too.

Plus, I hung my military style winter jacked on the door to my bedroom, so that it could clearly be seen from the kitchen window, I also placed a revolver model on the window sill in my room, which also could be seen while climbing into the kitchen window. Just to give the guy an impression... I also wanted to stick a written sign on the window pane: "Come in, we're open! But this time I'll shoot." I've hidden all the important documents inside books, the rest of the kitchen knives into one of the closed compartments of the refrigirator, sneakers by my bedside ready to be put on and raced in, kicking @ss on the way...

Anyways, I went for a BB gun just because I'll not manage to get a firearm because firearm laws are as strict as in the UK I believe, so I have to stick to BB just for now. In a month or so I'll also get a second BB to carry around at night. And today I must visit the camping store to get myself a decent knife and two good flashlights.

What's the best place to hide a) guns, b) knives. It is quite dangerous to keep a knife under the pillow, but, I think, a Glock BB could easily be kept there.

Thanks again for your replies.

[edit on 24/6/07 by MastaG]

Its hard to tell if he intends to come back, if it was just an opportunistic break in then chances are he wont be back unless he has seen something he really wants.

Having a knife by you might make you feel safer but chances are he has one too. Unless you know how yo use one its at best 50:50 or worse. Give me 50:50 on the lottery but not with my life.

As paddy pointed out, and i suspected, booby traps are against the law which takes a little of the fun out of it. Although dogs are still legal and in my opinion are the best home defence you can get. I have a 2 year old black labrador who would quite happily lick your face all day, but as one of my neighbours found out after he enterd without knocking, also likes to bark and generaly scare the # out of people coming in who he doesn't expect.

Don't get too worried, chances are he wont be back but it help to be prepaired.

[edit on 24/6/07 by manta]

I would probably not want to use traps. I've heard all kinds of stupid stories such as burglers falling through kitchen skylights onto knives that were on the kitchen counter and getting stabbed, and actually suing and winning.

Also be careful with the BB gun and make sure that it isn't your brother before you shoot. Not that BBs are life threatening or anything, but it's even more important with a real gun to positively identify that it's not someone you know who is there for another reason. Also not sure what the laws are like if you shoot an intruder in the back, as that is less easy to claim self defense.

That being said, if someone broke into my house they'd risk getting either pellets/BBs or a baseball bat in the face as well. Luckily nobody has ever broken in, but I've had people that seemed to be trying a few times.

I live pretty close to a few bars, and a few times drunks have stumbled into my backyard for some reason. Twice my dad let the dog out and managed to scare them over the fence pretty fast, even though it has those pointy edges on top... so I dunno how they got over that quick. Another time someone was around the house, but I guess someone had already called the cops on them because within a few minutes the police were in front of my house, and the next morning someone elses blood was all over our walls and wooden gate .

Also heard a story of a 16 year old stabbing burglers that broke in to steal his PS3 with a sword, so you may want one of those too, just make sure you know how to use it .

My shared-house was burgled a few years ago and when I called the police (just to get a crime-number to claim on the insurance) I asked the officer who was from the burgalry-unit what kind of self-defemce could be legally justified. He told me that basically you have the right to only defend yourself with 'reasonable force' and anything else would constitute assault.

He did suggest 'off-the-record' that if I had caught the intruder in the act and beaten them half to death, that it would be wise to position them at the foot of the stairs before calling them in, and just state that they 'fell down the stairs during a struggle'.

Rather than use knives/guns/etc that could be taken from you and used against you, you could try 'Prison Napalm'...keep a kettle filled with water and a jar of sugar somewhere upstairs...if you hear an intruder, get the kettle boiling and tip the sugar into it. If you are confronted, fling the boiling water/sugar at them for instant incapacitation...will burn them through clothing too

He did suggest 'off-the-record' that if I had caught the intruder in the act and beaten them half to death, that it would be wise to position them at the foot of the stairs before calling them in, and just state that they 'fell down the stairs during a struggle'.

We had a policeman say that to us after we had been having trouble with some kids for months and months which culminated in the smashing of a car window. The policemsn made it quite clear that resonable force could end up being quite brutal and still be passed of as resonable with a little imagination