“I always keep a baseball bat under the bed, but I never thought I’d have to use it against an intruder,” says Mike* in a calm tone. In the early hours of the morning, Mike’s wife, Anne*, woke up to find a man dressed in black standing at the foot of their bed, holding a gun. The intruder proceeded to tie them up, violently assaulted Mike, rendering him unconscious, and forced Anne to show him where they kept their valuable possessions at gunpoint. He then made off with £50,000 worth of watches, cash, and jewelry, some of which he forcefully took from Anne.
The couple had minimal security measures in place, including an outdated alarm system, no safe, and easily accessible bi-fold doors, which the intruder took advantage of.