Burgled Yesterday ED/Forest Hill

[NatalieH]

Yesterday evening my ground floor flat was burgled in Forest Hill/East Dulwich - Canonbie Road.

A neighbour saw the thief and described a young black male driving a silver car. Unfortunately there was not much more information. However there was also a purple micra parked outside with 2 young men who then left their car unattended and unlocked shortly after the burglary and they appeared to be some sort of look out.

Police seem to think that these thieves are targeting the area and there's been a few break ins locally. I just wanted to raise awareness for other locals to be extra vigilant.

[Hex]

I'm sorry to hear that, can I ask what end of the road you live on? I live there too and have seen a lot more people just sitting in cars of late, including one matching the description you give of the thief. Obviously there's a lot of men with silver cars out there but the number of people hanging about really seems to have risen over the last few weeks and it's made me twitchy. We've also had some stuff stolen from our building communal areas (and it's been fine for years up to now so I doubt it's the neighbours!) PM me if you prefer.

There are also quite a few reports of crime on the SE23 forum recently.

[abeattie]

I'm pretty sure I saw these guys hanging around at the bottom of Henslowe Rd just before Xmas.

They were parked up near the bottom of the road and there were maybe 5-6 of them sitting around in and out of their cars. One was a silver honda I think and the other was a purple Micra or Corsa from what I remember. They looked young, probably teenagers and were a mixed group of black and white guys.

I only remember this as they looked pretty out of place. Not long after I walked past one of them received a phone call and they all piled in both cars and sped off pretty quickly up the road. I've not seen them since, but seems like it could be the same lot.

[dbboy]

Have pm'd you

[NatalieH]

I'm about midway up the road - a bit further up from Westwood park, but I believe they parked further up the road and carried what they'd taken. I think my neighbour said they had seen 2 black boys in the silver car and 2 white boys in the purple car and possibly a third in the purple car.

[Hex]

I'm just a bit further up from you, nearer the peak. My partner has just told me he also saw a purple car before Christmas parked roughly opposite the entrance to Manor Way (off Canonbie Road) with four young men (two black, two white) in it. He remembers it because they were there for a long time, close to 20minutes, and the two in the front were talking very animatedly. He says he kept looking out as he thought a fight might break out. Hopefully they will be caught, seeing as they aren't exactly inconspicuous! Sorry once again.

[Blah Blah]

Sorry to hear that Natalie. At least we have a heads up in the area now and the fact that the two cars together are a pretty good description, hopefully these guys can be caught sooner rather than later. I think burglary is up everywhere. Sign of the times sadly.

[NatalieH]

Thanks for all the support. I'm sure I won't see any of my possessions again that were taken but I sincerely hope that these guys get caught and can't do this to anyone else.

[prunellabutterworth]

Thats unfortunate and sorry to hear about your burglary.

I have seen quite a few black boys in hoodies hanging around the area, i'm not sure if that is connected to any of the burglaries.

But i shall stay vigilant and keep my eyes open to any suspicious movements.

[poppet27]

Going to ignore the last comment very quickly before it turns into a firestorm...

Sorry to hear this Natalie, and feel your pain as the same thing happened to us in March. May I ask how they got in, and did they bypass any security features?

)If I remember correctly, you need to ask to add any sightings or suspicions to the police intel team. This doesn't always happen with the team that come out to see you.)

[NatalieH]

They got in through a sash window at the front of the flat I believe using a crow bar or something like it (sash windows seem to be their prime target). The windows were all bolted permanently shut but the bolts split through the frame. Landlord has repaired them now and reinforced.

There is something up on the met police website for Lewisham asking for any information and they're aware that I've put these posts up on here and on se23.com and have been seeing what others are saying. The burglars were very specific about what they took, focusing only on electronics and jewelerry, no drawers or cupboards overturned or anything.

[Hex]

There are notices posted all along Honor Oak Road from someone in Ewelme Road asking for the return of their stolen laptop with all their uni work on and their grandmother's jewellery. :-(

Had the drawers etc even been looked through or was it just visible stuff that was taken? Definitely going to be more careful about security from now on...

[NatalieH]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same guys. I only noticed one cupboard had been opened but all the drawers looked untouched. Maybe they would have spent more time had my neighbour not spotted them though. I'm definitely going to invest in added security. Sadly I was foolish enough to not have contents insurance so I'll be sorting that out as well (once I have some contents to insure!). Highly recommend getting contents insurance if you don't have it.

I also had my whole jewelerry box taken with every last bit of jewelerry I had from my grandmother. The TV going didn't bother me as it can be replaced but these people have no heart taking items that are clearly sentimental, not that I expect burglars to understand sentiment mind.

[woodland]

Sorry to hear about your expereince - when this happened to my sister she was advised to keep her eye on ebay for jewellery - which i think is a long shot - but that and local pawnbrokers are maybe worth a shot if it is distinctive.

[NatalieH]

I think I'm going to check out the pawn shops in Peckham tomorrow. Been checking Gumtree as well but no joy.

[poppet27]

Gutted to hear that. It's how they got into ours too. Sad, worthless people.

Yeah keep an eye on gumtree!

[Laur]

Really sorry to hear about your burglary NatalieH.

Could this be the same Prunella who was deleted because of her comments on this thread?

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,1289192

poppet27 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Going to ignore the last comment very quickly

> before it turns into a firestorm...

>

> Sorry to hear this Natalie, and feel your pain as

> the same thing happened to us in March. May I ask

> how they got in, and did they bypass any security

> features?

>

> )If I remember correctly, you need to ask to add

> any sightings or suspicions to the police intel

> team. This doesn't always happen with the team

> that come out to see you.)

[uncleglen]

You may want to check out cash converters too because although they seem to have good security checks lots of stuff stolen in the riots of 2011 turned up at cash converters

[Blah Blah]

When checking the pawn shops, ask the people behind the counters and leave a number and description of all the stolen jewelry too. Might be worth asking if they have stolen item alerts accross branches too.

[Shaila Shah]

As a preventative measure - useful to mark things like laptops etc with the invisible ink marker that the police can give you and to take photographs of possessions, especially jewellery.

[Herne Hill Guest]

I can recommend getting a burglar alarm. I was burgled a few years back and felt uneasy approaching the flat when coming home as I actually caught mine in the act. My alarm would phone me if set off and it really helped me get calmer quicker. They are not that expensive.

[Mustard]

A burglar alarm needs to be connected to the police station, otherwise what is the point?