Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Woman finds thief in her family home
A WOMAN has told of the “horrendous” moment she came face to face with a thief in her kitchen in the dead of night.
Deborah Findlay, 53, was at home with her 21-year-old daughter when the brazen criminal struck at her home in Strathspey Place — asking her how she was doing before making off with £400 in cash and a purse.
Deborah said she came face to face with the man, just after 1am, in her kitchen.
She said: “When I saw him he turned around and said ‘how you doing?’.
“I screamed and ran out the front door and into the garden. I was shouting for someone to phone the police.
“It was horrible — he was right in the kitchen. My daughter was upstairs and I shouted on her to phone the police.”
The i ncident was captured on CCTV and the footage shows the man making several attempts on the property. On one occasion the crook is hiding just metres from Deborah as she stands at her front door.
Another shot shows the man approaching the house again, this time crawling up to the door, before he is spooked and hides across the road.
The man — who Deborah said was about 6ft and wore a scarf over his face — is also seen approaching the door, being disturbed, and running away.
Further camera footage shows him making two attempts to break into Deborah’s car, wiping his fingerprints on one occasion and putting on gloves for the second.
She said: “He has actually been in this house twice — and tried on two other occasions. I was just in my living room watching TV at the time.”
Deborah said she was releasing the footage in the hope that the culprit can be brought to justice.
She also said she wants her story to ensure that people remain vigilant and don’t fall victim to the perpetrator if he strikes again.
She said: “This person needs caught — he has definitely done this kind of thing before.”
Appealing for witnesses to come forward, a spokesman for Police Scotland said there had been break-ins at Strathspey Place in Broughty Ferry and Arbroath Road yesterday, during which personal items and money were stolen.