I have recently – well, no, actually it has been ongoing for several years. My neighbour has twice had a set of my keys cut without my knowledge. The first time I let him get away with it – he would come into my house every day – just checking that everything was OK. He was was also concerned, because I live alone (sshh don’t tell anyone!) and wanted to be able to come to my rescue. What he failed to take on board is that after I became aware that he had a key, I always leave keys in both the back and front door locks when I am in the house – so he wouldn’t be able to get in to the property evening if something did happen.
However, that was all in the past – or so I thought. I had had very stern words with my neighbour and even threatened suing for trespass. Although this worked for the house (he had no keys) and the back garden, it didn’t (and hasn’t) stopped him coming into my front garden for not particular reason that I can work out. He seems to check my wheely bin every day and today he’s even put all my garden rubbish sacks into black bin liners.
At Easter I had to ask my neighbour to look after the cats. The cats don’t really like my neighbour very much and refused to be fed by him. He did the dastardly deed and got a set of my keys cut while I was away. To get some evidence that he had the keys, I decided to get a little CCTV camera that shows the front of my house and the gate. I also have a problem with the top hinge of the garden gate so that this is always open. I am half planning to get a lock fitted to it when it is repairs and installing a mail box. I am determined to stop him trespassing on such a regular basis.
If you have any questions about this do please drop me a line, but in the meantime you can keep a look out for my neighbour trespassing and if you see him coming on to my property, let me know the time and date and I can then challenge him again. You can see the image from my camera here. If the images freezes just refresh the page.
Rebecca Mills, Bristol, UK 