Attempted Break In - Kitchen Window Smashed

[Hugo Stiglitz]

I knew someone who caught the burglar at the top of the stairs hit him with a (short) rounders style bat and followed him downstairs hitting him again at the bottom.

You are allowed to use disproportionate violence as a homeowner however that doesn't mean a really good kicking. It means if you act in the spur of the moment (once) and punch say and his jaw is broken. Or you are fighting for your life.

With adrenaline it can really go bad.

The lad I knew went inside for 18months.


It really isn't worth it as your blood will be up. Just call the police.

[vindaloo79]

Sheepshanks said:

This thread is all a bit scary! Our house has very restricted frontage and is surrounded by others with a closed in rear garden and I've never given security a second thought. We unlock our front door in the morning and lock it when we go to bed so anyone could just walk in.

The owner of a property a few doors along has just passed away - I've always like the setting it's in, on a corner and with a very open front and easy access to the rear. Now I'm thinking it'd be a security nightmare. It's rare to hear of break-ins here (rural Cheshire village) but they do happen now and again.

Your lucky, in Leeds and the locality it has been a drastic increase where I am. A bike a day within .5 mile, a car a day within 1 mile on Facebook and they are the ones you hear of. Our neighbours opposite had garage broke into al6 weeks ago for bikes.

Then his Audi q3 stolen two week ago.

The new Audi EV I forget the name was stolen from next culdisack about 8 week ago.

Leeds is always bad at Xmas but never usually around our little area. Lots of people are needing cash due to Covid and the bad areas usually do ram raiding or armed robberies at Xmas over recent years without fail.

Every time I feel like I forget about it then you hear of a nearby house being targeted for garage theft but not serious stuff and so far not violent (keyless or garages).

There has been a lot of caravans nearby which seems to correlate with tens of van thefts in last two weeks.

Hopefully come January things will calm down with Covid and everything else so folk aren’t so desperate.

[ooid]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

I knew someone who caught the burglar at the top of the stairs hit him with a (short) rounders style bat and followed him downstairs hitting him again at the bottom.

....
The lad I knew went inside for 18months.

I'm really confused now.. so your house might be broken in, and they might even danger your life but you can not protect yourself/family and your own home? The law might put you in? The whole thing now looks surreal now, no wonder all these burglars are super-motivated to rob or attack any house nowadays.

[Doofus]

ooid said:

I'm really confused now.. so your house might be broken in, and they might even danger your life but you can not protect yourself/family and your own home? The law might put you in? The whole thing now looks surreal now, no wonder all these burglars are super-motivated to rob or attack any house nowadays.

I did. I told the police that I'd always deal with the intruder first, and answer any questons second. The younger officer told me I should never confront an intruder, and the older officer grinned and told me "well done!"

[anonymous-user]

ooid said:

Hugo Stiglitz said:

I knew someone who caught the burglar at the top of the stairs hit him with a (short) rounders style bat and followed him downstairs hitting him again at the bottom.

....
The lad I knew went inside for 18months.

I'm really confused now.. so your house might be broken in, and they might even danger your life but you can not protect yourself/family and your own home? The law might put you in? The whole thing now looks surreal now, no wonder all these burglars are super-motivated to rob or attack any house nowadays.

I’m guessing the first hit was defending his property but following him down the stairs for another go was seen as something else. Without the full details of the case we can’t really say.

Obviously the trick is to make sure that the first hit is all that’s needed

[ATM]

garyhun said:

ooid said:

Hugo Stiglitz said:

I knew someone who caught the burglar at the top of the stairs hit him with a (short) rounders style bat and followed him downstairs hitting him again at the bottom.

....
The lad I knew went inside for 18months.

I'm really confused now.. so your house might be broken in, and they might even danger your life but you can not protect yourself/family and your own home? The law might put you in? The whole thing now looks surreal now, no wonder all these burglars are super-motivated to rob or attack any house nowadays.

I’m guessing the first hit was defending his property but following him down the stairs for another go was seen as something else. Without the full details of the case we can’t really say.

Obviously the trick is to make sure that the first hit is all that’s needed

Someone I know had some bother recently where by his home was attacked on more than 3 or 4 occasions by some youths. Dont wanna give exact details. Anyway we had a conversation about my recent bother and I mentioned someone recommended me getting a baseball bat. To which he replied a baseball bat can only be seen as a weapon. If the police catch you outside your property in the middle of the night with said baseball bat then it will not end well for you. It will be seen as a weapon and therefore you can get charged with offences involving a weapon and excessive force. He was told this by some police officers who attended an incident at his home. He met them outside where he was still carrying his baseball bat and it was in the middle of the night. They politely told him to lose the baseball bat immediately and permanently. I believe he now has a very large torch by his bed which is shaped much like a baseball bat. This he can explain away easily if it is dark.

[S100HP]

Just be careful about standing your ground. Had to send to a 40 odd year old woman last week who was stabbed in the chest during a break in. It was just before 7pm too.

[Evanivitch]

ATM said:

. I believe he now has a very large torch by his bed which is shaped much like a baseball bat. This he can explain away easily if it is dark.

Maglite 7D

[ATM]

Evanivitch said:

ATM said:

. I believe he now has a very large torch by his bed which is shaped much like a baseball bat. This he can explain away easily if it is dark.

Maglite 7D

Just found this one searching

[Gareth79]

Simpo Two said:

Sheepshanks said:

Interesting - ours are externally beaded and I was concerned that someone could remove the beading and drop the sealed unit out, but was told the glass would break first. Seems that's true.

I've had to replace sealed units before and it's certainly possible to prise the beads out without breaking the glass.

But I think external beading could encourage people to try a break in - why isn't all beading internal?

I believe external beading was preferred in the past because it was easier to make weather tight.

Mine are externally beaded, however the panes are held in with some sort of tape/adhesive, so even with the beads removed it's impossible to remove them without cutting the adhesive from the inside. Neighbours have had theirs replaced (the whole street had all the same windows) and it was apparently quite a job to get the panes out.

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

I once discussed this with a family friend who's a copper. When discussing the self defence angle angle he said all you need to say to the police is 'he was coming right at me'

[CAPP0]

Few points with all the talk of weapons etc:

- Someone I used to know well, who was a Met copper, said (several times) that keeping something like a bat in the house is not a good idea, in case the intruders find it/get to it before you do, or before you know they are there. They then have an additional weapon to use against you.

- Proportionate force: someone I used to work with got jumped inside a railway station late at night some years ago, by two guys. However, said former colleague was some sort of martial arts expert and took both the attackers apart, left them both out cold on the floor. It was all on CCTV but he still got a criminal record for GBH based on having used more force than was deemed necessary to stop them.

- On one of the police programmes recently, a career burglar had broken into a house where the guy was sleeping downstairs. The householder clocked him a couple of decent smacks on the nose, enough to subdue him until the police arrived. Claret everywhere. The police said that he had used an appropriate level of force to defend his house and family and their view was "good on him".

Work your way through that minefield!

[PositronicRay]

CAPP0 said:

- Proportionate force: someone I used to work with got jumped inside a railway station late at night some years ago, by two guys. However, said former colleague was some sort of martial arts expert and took both the attackers apart, left them both out cold on the floor. It was all on CCTV but he still got a criminal record for GBH based on having used more force than was deemed necessary to stop them.

Plenty of secondhand info on this thread. Your mate had probably failed to register his hands as lethal weapons though.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

garyhun said:

I’m guessing the first hit was defending his property but following him down the stairs for another go was seen as something else. Without the full details of the case we can’t really say.

Obviously the trick is to make sure that the first hit is all that’s needed

The threats gone when the blokes no longer capable of fighting. Just as when Mike Tyson knocked someone out he didn't kneel down and repeatedly punch the bloke whilst he was laying on the floor....

[tredd]

Sheepshanks said:

Interesting - ours are externally beaded and I was concerned that someone could remove the beading and drop the sealed unit out, but was told the glass would break first. Seems that's true.

Having replaced the window panes on our old house I can confirm I was shocked at how easy it was to unlock the beading and slide the panes out!

[0a]

Bodo said:

Even better!

Seriously though: when they'd be able to get the key for the Boxster (for which they probably need to confront you directly), they're equally close to get the key for the gate's lock. That would defer them for 2 to 5 seconds.

Or, alternatively, they would take damage into account:


(skip to 3:40)

Scary.