An Edinburgh woman has been left terrified after a stranger was caught on CCTV prowling outside her home in the middle of the night. Finlay Halliday was relaxing in her living room when her doorbell camera caught the shadowy figure lurking around her property at 2am on Saturday, January 21.
The 22-year-old, from Drylaw, then spotted the hooded man with a backpack in her garden. She initially thought he was hunting around the shed for valuables to steal, but was left further disturbed when he started looking into her windows instead.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Finlay said: ""Apparently, this has been happening a lot around the street and he seems to be targeting lonely women’s houses. I reported it to the police who are aware and have asked if anyone else in the area has any CCTV to please get in contact so we can get this man caught.
Finlay, who works in a hospital, said she only realised the prowler was there after he was caught on her outdoor security cameras. She explained: "It was very scary but basically I was just sitting in my living room watching TV. Luckily I have CCTV that covers the back garden too or I wouldn't have known.
"The scary thing was it wasn’t like he trying to look at the shed or the surrounding area that has stuff that could be stolen. It was just specifically at my window and he knew exactly where to stand to avoid standing on the stones under my window - like he had definitely done it before."
She continued: "I have CCTV at the front as well and basically went to my bedroom window to see if I could see him because he had disappeared from the view of the back camera so I thought that was him leaving because the shed had a lock on it. But then I got a notification for my ring doorbell to say that he was actually on the stairs instead of around the back."
Finlay said: "He was just kinda like looking around. He was outside for about 10 to 15 minutes and then my neighbour came round because I couldn’t see where he was anymore and was worried.
"She was like he’ll be away is fine he’s probably just gone through the back garden and then my neighbour went down to have a look and I was there hanging out my window, and then he saw me and heard her and then ran away."
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: "On Saturday, 21 January, officers received a report of concern about a man approaching an address earlier that morning in Telford Drive, Edinburgh. Enquiries are ongoing."
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