7
Mar
2013
By Calvin at 11:58 GMT, 11 years ago
Police in Telford have issued a security reminder to residents in the town after a sneak-in burglary in Dawley.
The incident occurred at an address in Chilterns Gardens on Wednesday 6 March.
At around 6pm, a woman who lives at the house arrived home and placed her handbag and her phone on a chair near to the property’s back door. She went upstairs to get changed but then, when she came back down around ten minutes later, she noticed the bag and phone were missing and that the back door was slightly ajar. She checked around her property but no-one was anywhere to be seen.
A police spokesman said: “It appears that while the woman was upstairs, someone opened the rear door of her house and stole the handbag and the phone. When police were called a thorough search of the area around the property was carried out and although her driving licence was found dumped in Chiltern Gardens, no offenders and no further items were found.”
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What we don’t know from the report is if the victim had unlocked her back door on returning home or if it was already unlocked. Neither do we know about what access there is into the back garden from the street and nor do we know if the victim entered the house using the back door.
With so many unknowns it’s difficult to know what to advise, but whatever else might be wrong with the property’s security the back door was unlocked and it is for this reason that the thief was able to commit the crime.
Many of us leave our back doors unlocked when we’re at home, not thinking for one moment that a thief would let themselves in. But it does happen as this incident has shown us. So my advice to you is always to turn the key in your back door, even when you’re at home. I’m in the habit of doing this when I’m at the front of the house watching telly, just in case someone manages to climb over my fence or side gate. At night and when I go out I take the key out of the door. It’s all about routine; getting into the habit of thinking about your own security.
There’s a ton of information about securing back doors and other doors on this website so if you think you may have a problem take a look at Single leaf back and side doors not used as a main entrance and maybe delve deeper while you’re there.
You know it makes sense!
Source West Mercia Police: http://www.westmercia.police.uk/news/news-articles/police-issue-security-reminder-after-sneak-in-burglary-in-dawley.html
