Like a fool when I closed the downstairs transom window I didn't check to see if it had locked properly, as it turns out at 3.00 a.m. I hadn't.

Mrs Flash heard noises downstairs and as soon as she put the lights could hear banging around, I wasn't allowed to go downstairs and had to wait until the police arrived, very promptly I may add.

The T**** were obviously looking for car keys but the only thing that was actually stolen was a nine inch Wusthof Chefs knife 😯

SOCA have been out and dusted for prints (couldn't find any). Now I know I was stupid for not checking the window, but in light of what was stolen I think we got away quiet lightly.

So my question, how can I clean the dusting powder off the uPVC windows? It's a right mess and I'd like to get it sorted before Mrs Flash comes home.

Thanks

No Bombers handy?

You're very lucky there really – especially as you probably wouldn't have been insured seeing as you left the window unlocked.

I got broken into a year or so ago – horrible feeling. They took a couple of ice axes!

Well good that no-one was hurt. They probably grabbed the knife when they heard you moving about.

Posh digs – is this your door?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transom_(architectural)

No Bombers, I'm a Pikes man myself, I'm not sure they would be up to the job.

Hadn't even thought about the potential insurance aspect, still a bit hung up on the thought of a Scrote downstairs with a nine inch knife

🙂 I wish, I'd never heard of the word until my wife used it, I thought it was just the North Eastern name for the window across the top of the window bit.

I'd be more scared that they grabbed a knife rather than a watch or car keys… 🙁 I feel for you – we disturbed burglars ripping our garage door open 3 years or so ago, still get anxious when my head hits the pillow. It used to be every night, now it's only once a week or so.

Nasty, bit of a coincidence as well unless they've been checking doors/windows on your street a lot lately and got lucky.

I don't want to worry you unduly, but said scrote now knows what you have in your house.

Today would be the day to arrange the fitting of a burglar alarm. And have a fleeting interest in baseball – just fleeting enough to buy a bat, put it under your bed and forget that it's there.

I fitted a Yale wireless burglar alarm in around 2 hours. It cost very little gives me huge peace of mind. I'm sure a determined burglar could circumvent it but never the less I feel better for having it.

I also keep an aluminum rounders bat in the hall upstairs for just such an emergency I'm told baseball bats are less useful in close quarters situations as they take more swinging and can leave you off balance. It's important you keep a ball handy otherwise the "first thing to hand" defence is less successful. I'm not a violent man but someone in my house would definately rue the day..

on the bright side – at least you didn't wake up to a scrote bashing your back door in 😯

we got done a few years ago, beers and a curry and the front door wasn't fully secured, fekkin horrible, would have been different if we were out but all asleep until i heard our car being driven off!

we got an alarm now (i work some night shifts locally) which will phone me if it goes off (house & garage)

our area is terrible for this sort of thing, review (local police will help) your security, locks, lighting, visibility, alley gating etc

don't beat yourself up about the window – they're the scum

i now have the biggest MagLite under the bed in case of powercuts

In answer to the OP's question. Last time I had the pleasure of SOCO and dusting powder the officer advised washing up liquid (neat) on a cloth to remove it. Depends on the surface.

I would 2nd the large maglite by the bed option over the baseball bat as you can easily explain a torch over a bat if you were to librally apply it to said scrotes cranium, a bat implies you intended to use it for such times and intent to use a weapon will go against you.

Aye, a maglight in the bedroom, completely innocent, given the number of power cuts we have these days.

Cynical – I live in th sticks and we do get power cuts, 😆

i live in the city – we can get cut

I grew up was a kid in the 70s, no maglites in those days!

Well good on Mrs Flash for not letting you go downstairs, deserves a present I would say.

I caught some burglars in my then girlfriends house once only me being a bit dim, despite one of the two asking me for money as I walked up the garden in my dirty cycling kit I thought they were friends of her housemate.. Wasnt until I walked in and found them loading cd's into one of my rucksacks and had the stereo out of the cupboard I realised. They left empty handed though and only tried to hit me when I got a bit cocky and told them to f off and not come back, funny thing was he missed and hit the door frame!! As all this was going on the girlfriend was in the back garden pissed off as I wasnt helping her clean the bikes.

intent to use a weapon will go against you.

This is why the law is crazy sometimes. the scum that break in show intent in wanting to nick your stuff, and picking up a 9 inch chefs knife definitely shows intent to **** up anyone that gets in his way. So why should you not be allowed to show intent to beat the living daylights out of someone who is clearly there without permission?

I know its a tricky argument but if the OP had a 9in stab wound he probably wouldn't be posting about it (sorry OP, morbid but true)

+1 for huge Maglite under the bed.

People shouldn't have to think twice about using physical force against intruders in their home*.

In the rest of the Anglosphere you'd be well within your rights to shoot them and I'd totally support the right to do that here.

*Due to fear of prosecution by the useless soft target chasing CPS, obviously people should think twice with regards to personal safety.

Anglosphere

whats that then?

Hate the way police will often say 'well it's your fault for leaving the window unlocked' or some other such rubbish. No Mr Babylon, it's YOUR fault, as your job is to 'help prevent crime'.

Police rarely patrol the area I live in (known crime hotspot), yet seem genuinely surprised when you do report anything. 'Oh but when we've patrolled, we've not seen anything going on'. That's possibly because A) you come round once a week in the middle of the day, and B) because you come round in brightly coloured cars that give your presence away instantly. Numpties.

Wiki:

QUOTE:
Anglosphere is a term with conflicting meanings. For some, the Anglosphere is just those set of nations with English as the most common language. For many others, it is a set of nations which share an "English-like" character and culture, particularly including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Further still, the Anglosphere has strong global socio-economic connotations, as the six countries which comprise the anglosphere have among the world's highest standards of living.
UNQUOTE.

I favour the latter (and more commonly accepted) definition.

Yeah it should be legal to kill them as soon as they'v entered your property.

They'll only get a brief holiday in prison if they get caught etc..

if you can kill 'em, swift n quiet like, n feed 'em to the pigs– whoose gonna report 'em missing?

If I had heard it I and not my wife I probably would have charged downstairs, even if I had a MagLite I would have been between him and the window he came in through and he had the knife…

It looks like a scouring pad and neat washing up liquid is the answer, Cif, Hand Cleaner, GT85, Window cleaner, chain cleaner are not.

Thanks for your comments

Its times like this I'm glad I hold a firearms certificate… with a condition permitting me expanding ammunition as well 😈

cynic-al – Member

Yeah it should be legal to kill them as soon as they'v entered your property.

They'll only get a brief holiday in prison if they get caught etc..
I can't quite work out if you're being serious or sarcastic there al. Oh and there's an 'e' on the end of "they'v"

Zulu-Eleven would you like to live with us? Only for a little bit 😉

I don't think anyone here is addvocating seriously harming someone in the house but a bit of a clump with a stout stick in the knee or something should be sufficent to stop them in their tracks and get the police in.

Its times like this I'm glad I hold a firearms certificate… with a condition permitting me expanding ammunition as well

Of course, using a firearm against a burglar would possibly be seen as using a little more than 'reasonable force', but you carry on dreaming you're Rambo, eh? 🙄

Thanks for the spelling lesson, I saw it but like many other I CBA correcting it (many arise from use of new phone).

I was kidding, but then I'm a contrarian leftie pussy, not an internet hard man fantasist Daily Fail reader.

I don't think anyone here is addvocating seriously harming someone in the house but a bit of a clump with a stout stick in the knee or something should be sufficent to stop them in their tracks and get the police in.

or in my case mince around in some cycling shorts and they seem more than happy to leave!!

We got broken into two months ago. 1am on a Friday morning our front door was prised open, keys stolen to both cars, then front door shut again. They got away with my BMW, I heard my wife's Subaru being started so (stupidly) charged downstairs to try to stop them getting away, but luckily by then the car was off the drive and was disappearing down the road. Police called straight away but neither car found that night, the Subaru turned up a few weeks ago, after being being involved in a robbery, my BMW has never been found. Since then the house is now like Fort Knox, new alarm system and upgraded locks on all doors.

In answer to your question we were told to use washing up liquid to get rid of the fingerprint powder, but I had some uPVC cleaning solvent that worked really well.

+1
I hold a firearms certificate

And the keys to the cabinet are with me 24/7 and the 2 cabinets are upstairs. 12 gauge trumps 9" knife anyday 🙂

From the interweb

Self-Defence in the Home
When householders find that there is an intruder in their home, it is likely that almost any amount of force or violence they use to protect themselves and their family will be justified. If the force was used to protect or defend the occupants from harm it will probably have been reasonable.

Self-defence is a common law defence which means that case law determines the tests to be applied when an individual relies on it in court. One thing is clear from looking at the cases that deal with reasonable force – very few of them relate to householders tackling intruders. Generally speaking, the Crown Prosecution Service does not prosecute householders who use violence in these circumstances. Therefore, despite the public perception, these incidents almost never come to court. The CPS and the police frequently conclude that householders have acted lawfully even in situations where weapons and considerable violence have been used against intruders

It was recently said by the Director of Public Prosecutions that, in the last 15 years, there have only been 11 cases where householders have been prosecuted after tackling intruders. As long as a householder acts instinctively, in the honest belief that they need to act in this way to protect themselves and their family, almost any level of violence can be used

What joolsburger said/pasted.

Provided you don't shoot them in the back as they're running away, having lain in wait for them, you're probably ok.

Thing is if you do seriously hurt one of them and they get away they know where you live, can't see it being long until your house/car/you get vandalised in retaliation.

So basically, grabbing a lump of wood/pair of bicycle forks or inadvertently urinating in someone's footwear through sheer terror can be considered 'instinctive'. Going to a locked cabinet, unlocking a firearm, loading it then aiming it at an intruder probably wouldn't.

Personally, I don't think individuals should be permitted to keep any firearms in a private residential property, but that's another issue.