Ron's advice

Can I reiterate the excellent advice that Ron Hawes, our resident ex policeman on site, gave us in November 2006.

Make sure all your doors and gates are locked when you go out. It is surprising how many people leave their gates unlocked which makes it easy for an intruder to get in.

If you have an alarm - set it when you are out and at night when you go to bed. There are apparently people with alarms who have never used them.

Hide your valuables in places that only you know about.

Close and LOCK the shutters on the windows when you go away.

Fit additional locks to patio style windows.

Buy a personal attack alarm and keep it with you - pointing one at intruders and setting it off will scare the living daylights out of them.

Leave a radio and lights on when you go out. NB check that the radio can be heard outside and leave the shutters just slightly open so the lights can be seen.

The most vulnerable points that he highlighted were the outside doors of the galerias and the concertina gates on patio doors. Ron explained that the euro style lock has a particular weakness if if protrudes from the door casing. The thief uses a wrench to twist the lock and break it. It does require some force but can be done. Where the lock is made flush this is not possible. He also mentioned secure closed shackle padlocks and locks which prevent sliding windows from being opened.

Ron went on to talk about a bar which can be locked across the inside of a door to prevent it from being opened. As he explained, the high security front doors are made from steel and present a difficult challenge to the burglar. Aluminium doors are much less of a challenge. These can be easily prised open with a screwdriver; even when they are locked - believe me we've seen it done!

When we first moved here, people had their outside lights switched on at night. Once we started paying for electricity the lights went out. When you looked across the estate last night it appeared to be being deserted. Apart from the street lights and the odd house, the place was in darkness.

Remember that most thieves are inherently lazy and nervous. If a house looks to be occupied then the chances are they'll leave it alone and look for one which appears to be vacant.

Timer switches are very cheap (Ikea have them in multipacks for a few euros) and can be used by residents and non-residents alike to give the impression that their houses are occupied.

If we all work together on these issues we can convince burglar Bill that he's wasting his time coming up to Villas Andrea and hopefully move him on to some other place. Our aim should be to prevent any re-occurrence of the misery that those people experienced last night.