"charles" wrote in message
...
If someone has broken in via a window, an easy-open door makes it far
easier to escape with his ill-gotten goods. Advice from our local Police
Crime Prevention Officer.

When someone broke into my parents' house, my mum is sure she disturbed the
burglars. She got back and found that the Yale lock in the front door
wouldn't open, so she went round the back to try the back door - which was
locked but she was able to unlock it. She found the front door now wide
open, and some cash missing from a drawer in the bedroom. Seems that the
burglars had locked the front door to give themselves some warning of when
the owner came home, and then made their escape while my mum went round the
back. My grandma was sitting in the car by the front door and saw nothing of
the men passing right by her...

I remember we all had to go down to the local police station to be
fingerprinted so our prints could be eliminated from ones that the SOCO
took - this was in the days when break-ins were still investigated by the
police.

It seems that the burglars were very small or had used a child to gain
entry, because the window where they got in was a small fanlight at the top
of a window frame round the back: dad had removed the catch the day before
while he repainted the window, and had left the window closed but unlocked,
planning to refit the catch once the paint was fully dry. The insurance
company said this window was so small that they didn't consider it as
"leaving the house insecure".