A horrified family watched helplessly via a CCTV phone app as a burglar raided their house while they sat on holiday 120 miles away.
Donna Marusamy was on a weekend break to Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset with her husband and children when she received a notification on her mobile that movement had been detected by sensors on an indoor camera at their West Midlands home. The couple watched the live footage showing an intruder with a limp enter their living room before disappearing upstairs, where he stole passports and jewellery.
Marusamy alerted the police and her brother-in-law, who arrived at the property as the burglar, seen wearing a hooded top, was rifling through the family’s personal belongings. The brother-in-law shone a torch into the house, prompting the thief to flee through the back window in the conservatory that he had removed to access the property.
Marusamy said the thief escaped with sentimental items including her husband Nathan’s wedding ring, a Rolex watch, and gold Indian jewellery.
The 37-year-old, who is head of a school in Walsall, said she had just put her children to bed when she was alerted to the intrusion at their home in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, at 10.15pm on Friday. She said: “I was completely horrified to see someone was in my back garden and shining a torch in my house. We immediately called the police.
“Then we watched him just walk into the living room and look at the CCTV camera before continuing upstairs. We sat there feeling completely violated as he helped himself to our things.
“I was just looking at my husband, thinking, ‘He is in our home and there is nothing we can do.’ We were just watching it unfold as I went through a mental list of what things he could be taking. All we could do was give the police a description of him.”
The mother of two said she was so angered by the break-in that she posted the footage on Facebook the next day. “I thought, ‘I’m splattering your face everywhere.’” Her post has been shared more than 4,000 times.
Marusamy said police were unable to find any fingerprints at the property because the burglar had been wearing gloves. As well as personal items, he stole a spare key to a Mercedes car, but left laptops and cash that were in the house.
Kevin Pitt, police engagement and consultation officer with Walsall police, said: “The offender has gained entry to the rear garden and then removed the beading from a window to enter the house. The house alarm sounded and the offender was disturbed.”
Anyone with information relevant to the burglary should contact the non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
