How to Beat the Burglar and keep your Home Safe whilst on Holiday

Ex-burglar Michael Fraser gives top tips you need to beat a break-in and keep your possessions and family safe

Who better to tell you how to avoid a break-in than someone who knows how burglars think – because he used to be one!

IS your home as safe as houses?

Just five per cent of burglaries result in a police charge while only seven per cent of swiped stuff is ever recovered.

NEVER advertise the fact you have a pet.

Every burglar knows that if there’s a cat or dog in the house, there may not be a movement-sensitive alarm as the animal would end up setting it off.

TAKE care if you have a cat flap as these make doors much weaker and easier for a crook to kick in.

Ensure there are other signs of a high-security home to put them off.

Hide valuables

IF you have any ­valuables you really don’t want stolen, stash them in the loft.

An intruder will never go in an attic as they could be trapped there if you suddenly come home.

Hide Cases

AND because crooks swerve the loft, it’s best to store holiday suitcases up there.

A ­burglar will often use these to haul away your possessions, so if they cannot find them they are less likely to take as much.

Pause your papers

ALWAYS pause your newspaper delivery when you’re on holiday – a pile on the doorstep shows no one is home.

But don’t say you’re on holiday when you halt delivery – you never know who the person will tell.

Secure you letterbox

PUT a cage on the inside of your letter box.

Cunning burglars will peer through this gap, then use a long pole to hook keys and pull them out through the letter box – before opening your door.

Hide your tools

BURGLARS hate carrying equipment  in case they are stopped by police.

Instead they will try to find some tools lying around your property – so if you keep a crowbar or ladder in an unlocked shed, you are making their lives easy.