Yesterday at about 3.30pm I noticed a man trying to get through our security door. He was trying one key after the other so I asked him what number he wanted and he said he lived at No 14. I told him our section only has numbers one to six. He said no I live here.
After a while he gave up and said it was a mistake. He had a small rucksack on his back which might have contained burglary tools. He is a thin white man aged about 40 and about 5ft 7" tall. His hair is black & he has a moustache. He was wearing a flat cloth cap & a thick sweater but had no coat on.
If he wasn't wearing a coat in this weather, you could say he was cold-calling...
Hi, which part of SE23 was this?
It was in Gaynesford Road at the Church Rise end
No I did not call the police because of the snow they would have struggled to get here. Another thing was that he reacted in a strange way and I wasnt sure if he was a mental case or pretending to be one.
Please report things like this to the Met Police on the non-emergency number: 0300 1231212. It might be useful in the future.
Shouldn't the Forest Hill safer neighbourhood team be dealing with incidents like this?
I would still report it to the Met though. After all this person tried to enter a premises that was not his own.
ShowTunes
I have sent Lewisham police an EMail detailing the description on of the man involved and the date / time of the event etc . Because his reactions were abnormal I swung towards thinking he was actually mentally ill rather than being a burglar but he might have been pretending to be confused.
…but he might have been pretending to be confused.
I concur. It feels highly likely that your final conclusion is spot on the nose. Who hasn’t pretended to be confused? Especially when you’ve been sprung doing something that you really don’t want the other person to know. Cut to me 26 years ago as a gung-ho teenager swaying gently as I assured my gaping parents that I hadn’t been drinking. I think the vomit down my shirt also gave the game away. I still remember the sound of my parents hooting with laughter as I lay there with my body and mind spinning after my first drink. As a ruse to cause doubt, I don't think it worked then. And it appears that neither has it been successful today.
So, excellent news to read that you reported it. I also think that your initial hesitation about calling the police was well measured. Especially in light of today’s example of the person in Kent calling 999 about their snowman being nicked. -> see this link to the BBC News Article from today.
And I also think showtunesgirl’s suggestions were very helpful. Thank you showtunesgirl for reminding me about this handy service. I’ve made a note of this handy service's handy number. And quite easy to remember which is...um...handy.
Hawkesrah, I think you may have saved some people a lot of intensely annoying pain by blocking this bloke’s next move.
If in doubt, call the police. Our next door neighbour had an attempted break in on Wednesday. If burglars can opperate so can the police. Call them.
Had an 'odd' caller last night, suspicious mainly because I am naturally sceptical.
About 20:00 the doorbell rang and I answered it to find a relatively well-dressed, diminutive lady in her late 50s/early 60s asking if Pat and Andy (names might be wrong) lived in our house or one of the other houses in the row. She was blathering on about having something urgent to deliver to them and kept brandishing a carrier bag with said item in. She was persistent despite me telling her we'd been at the address for years, know the majority of our neighbours and that no-one matching her description had been there in that time. She seemed particularly interested in my neighbours house (which looked occupied at the time). She had a slightly odd air to her and I'd be really surprised if she was part of a team 'casing' properties but who knows.
I couldn't decide what she was angling for; to leave this mystery item with us, to come in for some unknown reason, information of other houses/people? I'm slightly annoyed with myself for giving out a couple of first names of some neighbours but she had me mystified.
Anyone else had a similar caller??