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I've mentioned them before but if anyone gets in / out their garage through an internal door or wants to alarm a shed on the cheap then I can recommend an anti-poaching alarm - [url= http://www.outdoorsman.co.uk/index1.html ]you can get them here[/url]. Go to 'pyrotechnics' and then 'bangs'.
They work on a tripwire and fire a blank 12 gauge shotgun cartridge into the floor - pretty inexpensive and it's a loud enough bang to wake anyone up / scare the bejesus out of them. We've got them in our garden / shed after we had an intruder last year - useful and cheap addition to an alarm system. My brother has one mounted to the wall on the inside of the garage - if anyone opens the door from the outside it'll trip.
There's also a whole heap of other fun stuff you could try - smoke grenades? Someone opens the door and poof - clouds of purple smoke, that'd stop them in their tracks. I wanted to go down the route of rigging some paintball claymores up in the garden - if I hear a 'bang' then the first thing I'd do was to trigger them and send gallons of pink paint lashing out at chest height. My wife vetoed the idea.
As you might be able to tell I've given it some real thought.
Its shitty that you got burgled, couldn't say I would fight three guys, though I do have a crowbar in the house for a reason...I'd probably be nicked if I ever used it on a burgler..and I doubt the bastards would even get the same for nicking the sh*t to begin with.
The police officer who dealt with our case said the best thing to do is to buy the biggest, heftiest maglite torch and a bat. If you're cornered / want to defend yourself - "show them the bat and then lamp them with the torch" (that's pretty much a direct quote) 😯
teacake
just read the post, hope youre not too hurt and you get the bikes back
not sure who potsde it, but like the idea of paintballing anyone who tries to steal your bikes
Shame we've moved away from practical advice here, no one wants to have to fight 5 blokes in the middle of the night, maglite or no maglite. But it's a total Daily Mail myth that people are reguarly arrested for defending their own property against thieves
I'm going out today to buy 2 of the heaviest locks and chains I can find (there's a great shop in Fishponds), some hinge bolts for the external, solid oak door and I'll be getting a contact alarm and IR sensor for the outbuilding (and a flashing alarm box). Might even get one of the rape alarm type devices that makes a disorientating sound if tampered with, you cant stay long in a brick building with one of those going off.
I might stick some carpet strips along the top of the gate they climb over to get in, but my cricket bat is staying in my sports bag - M&S will come to the rescue if all this fails, not the NHS.
Regarding assualting burglars, the police are usually pretty sensible. Someone I know caught burglars in his pub, and he battered the daylights out of them (one ended up with a broken jaw), but the police reported it as self-defence. Shooting somebody in the back as they run away (a la Tony Martin) is different, and as we know, would be treated differently.
The shed/house burglary distinction is interesting. It seems like an attempt to prioritise crime by how much distress it causes the victims, but it's quite a blunt instrument. I've just had an email from someone whose son's Spesh P1 was nicked when he left it round the back of his house for 30 minutes - clearly someone was keeping an eye on the property. I can't see how the thought that someone is watching your house and waiting for you to leave something valuable outside is some somehow less unsettling than actually having your home broken in to.
Tea cake have sent you an email about shed security.
To the tea cake address.
Alarms definately seem the best way to scare them off, but note about IR sensor is that in sheds you get spiders wasps etc flying past them and seting them off all the time. Had to disconect mine due to all false alarms.
(door) Alarm scared some away from my shed just couple weeks ago. I would set up something a little more 'shocking' but have kids.
Guy got caught (after crashing a stolen motorbike) and 3rd time in court on account of multiple house burglaries and got his 3rd warning. Police said until the courts provide any deterant we can expect him back soon.