Other Theiving toerags and barbed wire, feedback

I've had some of the old kids toys stolen out of my garden. An old pedal car they didn't fit and a baby swing that sort of thing

They were not used and I wasn't that fussed.

They've gone and stolen a wendy house.

Again it wasn't used and was broken, but it was big and took some balls.


I've got bikes and stuff in the shed and expect them to continue stepping up so I've ordered some barbed wire for the fence. I can do it so it won't overhang the public side. Also might get some vandal paint from B&Q £10. to make it doubly difficult

Now I've a few options..... Obvious and devious and everything inbetween.

A) nailed flat to the top of the fence. Visable but subtle and only going to get touched by climbing

B) Coiled at top of the fence. visable but eyesore, but big deterent, hard to get past

C) Nailed on the inside edge. Not visable but try climbing over and you'd get spike, but could be bypassed with patience, but make a quick exit hard.

D) coiled on the inside edge. Visable when climbing dificult to get past, imposable to get a quick exit

E) Loose coiled on the floor, let the brambles and weeds make it imposible to move. If you jumped into the garden without looking you'd get messed up. could be jumped past either way if you were aware of it.

 

I would coil it on the inside of the fence - don't let the vandals see their reckoning! And it stops the wire being a public eyesore.

 

Live mains cable on top of the fence...

 

Nail it up to the top of the fence to start with - make it obvious that you're taking notice and starting to combat their thievery. If they persist then just keep adding it in more and more obvious positions, they'll get tired of it eventually and move onto something more opportunistic.

 

Personally I'd go for a combination of B, D and E. But I guess it depends how much you value your stuff. B by itself would probably suffice in most cases. A is probably too little, not enough spikes to get them with. C as you said could get bypassed given a bit of patience. D would be good by itself too but could cause you to have a fight on your hands once they're stuck in the garden. E could potentially be a hazard to animals, kids or other family members. So you'd probably be better off with B and D together with the paint.

 

Deck chair, thermals, coffee, dark corner, 2x4.

Saddening to hear this kind of crap happening more and more these days

First off fella, check the legality of things. The *last* thing you want is for some chav scumbag to "injure himself" whilst trying to rob you and then ending up sueing you. I kid you not, until earlier this year, in Ireland you could not use force to defend your home or property. If a buglar or whoever suffered an injury in your house, regardless of why they were there, they could sue you for damages. Utterly disgraceful.

In any case, I yould say at a small incline inside your garden wall. Can't see it from the outside, have to get over it more awkwardly and getting back out is trickier.

I have seen a garden wall locally where the owner had actually cemented large shards of broken glass all along the top of the wall. He had used coloured glass, so it actually looked pretty nice

 

Sorry to say, but if it's not visible (under UK law), and the burglar injures themselves, you can be liable for those injuries.

I'll give a longer explanation if asked.

 

This. I would put some up on the inside/top and maybe put up a sign to avoid theives even attempting to climb over. Taken from another website:

Also I think passers-by can sue if it causes them injury :s

 

I would say E) but since you have kids that would not be ideal. A) looks to be the ideal location .

EDIT: The law about thieves/miscreants having a right to sue if they get injured is utter c*** and should not exist.

 

Dig a pit in the garden infront of the shed door, cover it with netting and leaves and put the hilarity on youtube.

Put on top of the fence a few Minefield signs.

 

Easy.

 

claymores.

 

+1 to that.

Have you notified the Police at all? If so, you should be able to ask them for advice on what you can and can't do to protect your house (IIRC, they should have a guidance document you could use).

 

A friend of mine is a senior police officer and I spoke to him once about garden security and the law basically says that all deterrents with the potential to cause harm must be visible. He made the point that if say there is an emergency and someone had to climb over the fence not realising there is a deterrent it could cause an additional injury.

He said the most effective anti-deterrent is a caged sensor spotlight which is as high up as possible so it is difficult to reach and destroy. Worth going that option and not so sighty either.

More info from the Metropolitan Police.

 

What counts visible? If, for instance, options D and E were chosen, but had the stuff poking a couple of millimetres above the fence so it could be seen from outside, would this count as visible?

Other option of course is move to America, buy a shotgun, then wait. If you do shoot a burglar outside of your property then follow the advice my half cousin was given after doing the same thing. "Drag him inside." That was from the cop who arrived first on the scene lol

 

Sadly that's not allowed. People can sue you if they become injured.

Your best bet is to have the barbed wire visible, and maybe E too. But you must have signs up in place as a warning of these measures.

The trespasser being injured is a bit of a conundrum, but sadly its now a section of law. I mean, there's a case where a child trespasser got through a well known gap onto a railway line. Many kids played there, but he got electrocuted. That was the start of that law. I'll fish out one of mah law books and write the things you can't do.

 

Option F)

Plant some really nasty thorny bushes / shrubs / hedge at the base of your fence.

Its just a plant but it'll hurt the little shits

 

I think it has to count as "Obvious". Besides, why used Barbed Wire? Use highly visible Razor Wire. I'd love to see some thieving idiot grab hold of that without thinking.

 

I would say it is more likely some kids than a real career criminal or anything.

Just scaring the crap out of them would probably suffice, althought I completely understand you want to protect yourself further (I caught some kids of about 15-16 trying to steal my bike about 6 months ago at 4am and it really got to me - I was both fuming and felt violated).

Not sure how your garden is, but one of those lights on a sensor is a good way to deter intruders without actually causing them harm. It may actually wake you up too, so you can catch them in the act.

Not saying you shouldn't go the barb wire route (I'm all for teaching the little sods a lesson), but have you considered other less drastic measures?

You also probably already know but D locks are you best friend with bikes, my landlord built a bike shed for a fellow landlord friend (a proper one made out of bricks and mortar with an electric door) and the only bikes that survived after a break in were the ones with D locks.

Man, I hate thieves.

 

Wasn't there something a while ago where a thief was robbing someones home, but hit their leg on a
table causing injury (and laying them off work or something?) - so they sued the home owner for
having a table not visible in the dark, or some other bollocks? :/

Total pisstake the UK law, can't defend your own property properly. Pfft.