Comments on: I found an Intruder in my House last night! http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/ My humble blog about fitness, health, diet (paleo and zone), CrossFit, PDR self defence, weightlifting, general life musings and occasional jollity. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:45:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kristina Vassilievahttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-12409 Kristina Vassilieva Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:03:22 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-12409 Haha, wow! - That is seriously one EPIC story Colin! :D Haha, wow! – That is seriously one EPIC story Colin! :D

]]> By: locksmithhttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-8341 locksmith Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:25:58 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-8341 Well, if you don't want this to happen ever again, try seeking the services of a locksmith that can offer complete home protection. With alarm systems and solid locks, you wouldn't mistake your wife for a burglar ever again. Well, if you don’t want this to happen ever again, try seeking the services of a locksmith that can offer complete home protection. With alarm systems and solid locks, you wouldn’t mistake your wife for a burglar ever again.

]]> By: Colin McNultyhttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-4091 Colin McNulty Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:40:08 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-4091 > I am beginning to feel a little less nervous at night time. That's really good to hear Lynne. > I am beginning to feel a little less nervous at night time.

That’s really good to hear Lynne.

]]> By: lynnehttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-3969 lynne Sat, 21 Aug 2010 23:59:29 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-3969 Thank you so much Colin for your advice. The idea about creating a safe room so to speak is a really good idea and one that I will definitely do. My father has a key to my home already. Thank you again for taking the time out to chat to me about this. Its something that has bothered me everynight since the incident but now gladly I am beginning to feel a little less nervous at night time. The burglary made me so paranoid at the begining , everytime I opened my bedroom door atnight I thought someone would be standing there to confront me. I'm so glad that has passed. I will ask my father to add an extra lock to my bathroom door this weekend. Hopefully as you said I won't ever need to use it . :) Thank you Thank you so much Colin for your advice. The idea about creating a safe room so to speak is a really good idea and one that I will definitely do. My father has a key to my home already. Thank you again for taking the time out to chat to me about this. Its something that has bothered me everynight since the incident but now gladly I am beginning to feel a little less nervous at night time. The burglary made me so paranoid at the begining , everytime I opened my bedroom door atnight I thought someone would be standing there to confront me. I’m so glad that has passed. I will ask my father to add an extra lock to my bathroom door this weekend. Hopefully as you said I won’t ever need to use it . :) Thank you

]]> By: Colin McNultyhttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-3788 Colin McNulty Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:11:12 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-3788 Good points Lynne. I teach a form of self defence based on Tony Blauer's SPEAR System called <a href="http://pdrteam.com/?page_id=2" rel="nofollow">Personal Defence Readiness</a>. In it we teach that there are 3 things a bad guy wants: your property; your body; or your life. Understanding this helps you to formulate a plan to reduce the chance of personal injury. In your case, your burglar appeared to be after your property, so getting into a confrontation wasn't his main aim. There are also 3 things a bad guy doesn't want: to get hurt; to get caught; or for his crime to take too long. Your tactic of turning on lights and making a noise pushes his "I don't want to get caught" button very nicely. In your case, with a physical frailty, I don't think you want to be putting yourself in the position of chasing him off yourself. This would also mean that you've seen him and that may change his behaviour if he decides he doesn't want witnesses. Every situation is different, and only if you're personally in a situation can you make a decision about the best course of action. If it were me, this is what I'd do: get some extra locks / bolts put on your bathroom door. Just enough to turn it into a bit of a safe room and stop it easily being broken down. Give your father a key to the house (make it clear that it's for emergencies only and all that). Always keep a phone upstairs (though it sounds like you did that already). In future then, you know there's a safe place you and your daughters can retreat to. You know your father can get in without you having to go down stairs. And you can loudly call the police from the bathroom and/or announce to the house that the police are on the way. Of course the chances are that you'll never need to do that, but having a safety plan that gets past your previous experience's issues, will go a long way to making you feel more secure. Good points Lynne. I teach a form of self defence based on Tony Blauer’s SPEAR System called Personal Defence Readiness. In it we teach that there are 3 things a bad guy wants: your property; your body; or your life. Understanding this helps you to formulate a plan to reduce the chance of personal injury. In your case, your burglar appeared to be after your property, so getting into a confrontation wasn’t his main aim.

There are also 3 things a bad guy doesn’t want: to get hurt; to get caught; or for his crime to take too long. Your tactic of turning on lights and making a noise pushes his “I don’t want to get caught” button very nicely. In your case, with a physical frailty, I don’t think you want to be putting yourself in the position of chasing him off yourself. This would also mean that you’ve seen him and that may change his behaviour if he decides he doesn’t want witnesses.

Every situation is different, and only if you’re personally in a situation can you make a decision about the best course of action. If it were me, this is what I’d do: get some extra locks / bolts put on your bathroom door. Just enough to turn it into a bit of a safe room and stop it easily being broken down. Give your father a key to the house (make it clear that it’s for emergencies only and all that). Always keep a phone upstairs (though it sounds like you did that already).

In future then, you know there’s a safe place you and your daughters can retreat to. You know your father can get in without you having to go down stairs. And you can loudly call the police from the bathroom and/or announce to the house that the police are on the way.

Of course the chances are that you’ll never need to do that, but having a safety plan that gets past your previous experience’s issues, will go a long way to making you feel more secure.

]]> By: lynnehttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-3787 lynne Sun, 01 Aug 2010 17:06:57 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-3787 Thanks Colin. I'm not sure what the burglar was doing I didnt want to look to find out. I think if it happened again I would react differently , I'm sure I would be angry this time at the intrusion. I've since learned that turning lights on & off or making a loud noise can frighten an intruder away so I would definitely do that . Or at least I like to think so. I never again want to feel as scared as I did that night. I only wish I I could've chased him off myself! So hopefully I will never have to go through it again :) Take care Thanks Colin.
I’m not sure what the burglar was doing I didnt want to look to find out. I think if it happened again I would react differently , I’m sure I would be angry this time at the intrusion. I’ve since learned that turning lights on & off or making a loud noise can frighten an intruder away so I would definitely do that . Or at least I like to think so. I never again want to feel as scared as I did that night. I only wish I I could’ve chased him off myself! So hopefully I will never have to go through it again :) Take care

]]> By: Colin McNultyhttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-3759 Colin McNulty Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:47:37 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-3759 Wow Lynne, that's a shocking story. One that I'm very glad you're here to tell! Whilst you were fumbling with the door, what was the burglar doing? Had he seen you? It's a difficult situation for anyone to find themselves in of course, especially as you have trouble walking. Turning your back on him must have been a really hard decision. Having got through this, would you do things differently next time? Wow Lynne, that’s a shocking story. One that I’m very glad you’re here to tell!

Whilst you were fumbling with the door, what was the burglar doing? Had he seen you? It’s a difficult situation for anyone to find themselves in of course, especially as you have trouble walking. Turning your back on him must have been a really hard decision. Having got through this, would you do things differently next time?

]]> By: Lynnehttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-3757 Lynne Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:47:46 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-3757 I had a very similar thing happen to me . I'm partialy disabled and have trouble walking. My 2 daughters aged 15 & 7 were asleep. I woke to a loud bang downstairs then constant noise in my living room . I thought maybe my cat had caught a bird (a rather large bird) and it was flying zaround my living room bashing into things. Then I realised it was far too loud for that , maybe a dog? No burglar would be that noisy & then I realised it had to be someone making the noise. and i figured someone who didnt care that much either thought there was no one home or that they didn't care, which meant they could come upstairs near my girls. I decided to ring my father who lives next door to me & he would get here faster than the police. I heard a knock on the door which i presumed was my father , I knew if I didnt come downstairs the person would probably come up so I made my way downstairs it usually takes me around 2-3 mins. Got to the bottom and turned to see a masked man in my kitchen with a torch in his hand. The fight or flight response didnt work with me , my legs turned to jelly. I frantically searched for the key to get out . For 30 heart stopping seconds I couldnt find it. Its amazing how fast your mind works in situations like this. I imagined him running at me with a knife and stabbing me in the back all in a split second. But I found the key and let my father in , he chased him out the back door and over my 6ft high fence. Police we're fantastic they had sniffer dogs , police helicopter & a troup of policemen at my home in minutes. They found my laptop in my next door neighbours garden. This happened to me just over a year ago, and I can't begin to tell you how it has affected my life. I;m sure you can imagine. Apparently the culprit lives virtually opposite my home . Police can't prove it but they are sure they know who is responsible. Our resident friendly burglar . Fight or flight doesn't always come into play , abject fear often does.. I had a very similar thing happen to me . I’m partialy disabled and have trouble walking. My 2 daughters aged 15 & 7 were asleep. I woke to a loud bang downstairs then constant noise in my living room . I thought maybe my cat had caught a bird (a rather large bird) and it was flying zaround my living room bashing into things. Then I realised it was far too loud for that , maybe a dog? No burglar would be that noisy & then I realised it had to be someone making the noise. and i figured someone who didnt care that much either thought there was no one home or that they didn’t care, which meant they could come upstairs near my girls. I decided to ring my father who lives next door to me & he would get here faster than the police. I heard a knock on the door which i presumed was my father , I knew if I didnt come downstairs the person would probably come up so I made my way downstairs it usually takes me around 2-3 mins. Got to the bottom and turned to see a masked man in my kitchen with a torch in his hand. The fight or flight response didnt work with me , my legs turned to jelly. I frantically searched for the key to get out . For 30 heart stopping seconds I couldnt find it. Its amazing how fast your mind works in situations like this. I imagined him running at me with a knife and stabbing me in the back all in a split second. But I found the key and let my father in , he chased him out the back door and over my 6ft high fence. Police we’re fantastic they had sniffer dogs , police helicopter & a troup of policemen at my home in minutes. They found my laptop in my next door neighbours garden. This happened to me just over a year ago, and I can’t begin to tell you how it has affected my life. I;m sure you can imagine. Apparently the culprit lives virtually opposite my home . Police can’t prove it but they are sure they know who is responsible. Our resident friendly burglar . Fight or flight doesn’t always come into play , abject fear often does..

]]> By: Colin McNultyhttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-3742 Colin McNulty Sun, 11 Jul 2010 06:56:12 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-3742 Lol. Thanks Jane, I enjoyed writing it. Lol. Thanks Jane, I enjoyed writing it.

]]> By: janeingerhttp://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/comment-page-1/#comment-3736 janeinger Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:23:02 +0000 http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/2007/09/18/i-found-an-intruder-in-my-house-last-night/#comment-3736 Colin this is so well written i have just read it to my 8 year old as her bedtime story. Awesome!! Hang on a minute i think i heard a noise downstairs.... Colin this is so well written i have just read it to my 8 year old as her bedtime story. Awesome!!
Hang on a minute i think i heard a noise downstairs….

]]>