Thieves/burglars abroad in Crookes

[tumbleweed 10]

Some degenerate scum were going round Crookes on Friday night trying get into people's houses.

 

My boyfriends housemate was in the house with the back door unlocked. The ******** chanced it, opened the back door took my car keys and stole my car.

 

They also stole stuff from other house nearby.

 

So lock your doors even if your just in the next room!

 

Or you'll end hugely ****** off, massively inconvenienced like me and out of pocket.

[Ousetunes 10]

Sadly you've just illustrated why these losers target areas like Crookes, Crookesmoor and Walkley.

 

With many student occupied properties, it's easy-pickings. That's not to say it doesn't happen elsewhere. I keep my front door locked most of the time and when I leave for work in the morning always lock my family in (but they DO have a key, you understand).

 

You just never know!

 

Sorry to hear of your plight.

[burnttoast 10]

Just a tip .Don't leave car keys/house keys near any doors. People do have a habit of putting their keys down on the side when they walk in. Sneak thieves know this. Thats how they make a living. This goes for mobile phones /wallets and purses.Easy pickings for them....;)It only takes a couple of seconds ,and they are gone.

It's not just a Crookes /Walkley problem .

[starstruck 10]

I live up in Crookes and not feeling too safe at the mo. Came home on tues night to find some random scrubber standing in the alleyway to my house, what the hell!

 

He didnt say anything but eventually moved out th way. I dont know what I would have done if I was by myself.

 

I dont know what he was doing but my boyfriend went out a bit later and he eventually moved off down the street, but he was still standing by peoples doorways.

 

very unpleasant character..............what is going on?

[taxman 12]

Make sure they can't enter your cellar via the grate at the front of the house. We were done like that, child squeezed down grate then up stairs and passed stuff out of window to accomplice. Either block the grate, hang a weight off it to prevent it being lifted or seriously bolt the door at top of cellar steps. Then if the little scrote does manage to get into the cellar he'll have trouble getting into the rest of the house.

[sciencegirl 10]

Last week someone I know in Crookes came home to find a burglar in her house. He had forced the Yale lock and made off with a computer and some smaller electrical goods, if she hadn't disturbed him it would have been a lot more since it's a student house.

The police said there had been a spate of break-ins in the area and no-one had been caught yet so PLEASE make sure your house is as secure as possible! I think the guy is an opportunist and will only break in places that are easy targets so be extra vigilant about using your deadlocks, window locks etc.

She was pretty shaken up to have faced him but apparently the police turned up ultra-fast and were really brilliant. She was very impressed with their response and the follow up from them, it sounds like they are doing their best to catch the guy.

[markg 10]

Been a few dodgy characters lurking around my street after dark in Crookes. Made a point yesterday of asking a guy who seemed awfully interested in my car if he needed directions. Apparently not as he soon disappeared, a couple of others at the end of the street drinking Special Brew, my GF only lives 100yards away but now I feel like I can't let her walk it alone.

[jimmy 10]

What roads/part of Crookes are you talking about?

[markg 10]

I'm just off school road, near the top

[rad 10]

Originally posted by markg

I'm just off school road, near the top

 

I live in that neck of the woods and we got 'got' in the summer. Some keys were taken and some damage to the window they broke open, nothing else though.

[muddycoffee 10]

Originally posted by burnttoast

Just a tip .Don't leave car keys/house keys near any doors.

I agree with burnttoast here.

 

It totally amazes me that people still Naïvely leave their wallets, purses and keys near unlocked doors and letterboxes.

 

We have been told in no uncertain terms not to do this for 20 years. For years cars have been stolen by thieves who use fishing rods to hook car keys through letter boxes, and most car insurance tells you to take your keys upstairs.

 

When I was a student on ecclesall road in the late 1980s I fitted a self locking yale lock without a latch so that everyone in the household kept their keys in the pocket for this very reason.

 

It is also nothing to do with the area. In all areas we get unwanted callers.

[davedavedave 10]

on a similar subject i was helping a friend move out of her house in manchester this week, returned from a self storage place to find the landlady changing the locks and refused to let us in to get the rest of my friends stuff!

anyway the landlady totally flipped and rang the police and told them there were burglars in her house (we had keys, the door was open and my friend did not have to be out until 9pm that night)

 

about ten minutes later a police car and van turned up, Q me thinking we were gonna end up in the cells. however the police were very professional and calmed the situation down, got landlady to agree to give us till 9pm to shift the rest of the stuff and were a bit peeved that the landlady had called us as they told us it was a civil matter and nowt to do with them.

 

phew! only just calmed my nerves down! and to top of the day i nearly crashed on the way home!