"I WILL never get over it, my home isn't my home any more now I know a person has walked around and taken stuff – they took everything from me."
Grandmother Karen Mitchell was at work when burglars broke into her Witham home for the second time in a year, stealing at least £2,000 worth of Christmas presents she had hidden away for family and friends.
But nearly five months after the incident on December 12 last year, in which an Armani watch, an iPad and an LED TV were among the gifts stolen, nobody has been brought to justice for the crime that has left the 53-year-old wanting to leave her house of 24 years on Rickstones Road.
But Karen is not alone as the latest figures reveal that between April 2013 and February 2014, fewer than one in five victims of domestic burglaries in Essex saw the culprits caught and punished.
"They're still out there doing it, if they're not getting punished they'll just keep walking about doing this – it's an absolute disgrace," Karen told the Chronicle.
In the 11 months leading up to February this year 6,857 people suffered burglaries or attempted burglaries at their homes across the county, but only 16 per cent of these incidents were solved by Essex Police.
Yet this figure in fact represents an improvement in last year's rate of 11 per cent, despite still sitting at significantly less than the average solved rate for all crimes of 29 per cent in the same period – a situation that police say arises from the professional and experienced nature of burglars operating across the county.
"We very seldom see a person that has committed their first ever burglary, by and large there tend to be very few in number but that have committed a great deal of offences, and normally they have an addiction of some kind," said Detective Inspector Alan Stevens of Braintree CID.
"They will ensure that there are no other people in the area to see them committing the burglary and it therefore becomes very difficult to detect them unless forensic evidence is present at the scene, and this becomes even more the case in rural areas."
It was a lack of evidence that led to two local men being released without charge in connection with the burglary at Karen's home soon after the incident.
The Witham pair, aged 22 and 18, were arrested after information was received by police that they might be responsible for the crime but insufficient evidence to proceed further led to the case against them being dropped, although the case was fully investigated by officers.
As a result of professional and practised criminals, police are forced to rely heavily on evidence collated from members of the public who may have witnessed the incident, but these challenges are of "absolutely no comfort" to the victims of the crime, admits Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston.
He said: "It is the crime that we have most of that causes the most concern. I have been burgled myself and I know how horrible it can be. It can be deeply traumatic for victims of which police are acutely aware and so they look at the figures very closely as they know the impact it has.
"I'm delighted at the increase in the numbers of burglaries solved, it is a huge increase. When the chief constable was appointed I told him I wanted him to focus on a reduction in crime but he said he also wanted more crime solved and there is the evidence.
"But I'm disappointed that it's still a very low number and below where all of us would want to get it. The aim is somewhere in the low thirties as I'm told that's about as good as it gets, it's a good benchmark target."
With an even steeper increase needed to bring them in line with that goal, however, are figures relating to burglaries or attempted burglaries other than those at a home, for which just six per cent are solved by police according to the latest figures.
It comes as little surprise to business owner Darrin Hammond, who arrived on Friday, September 13, last year to find the Witham company he had built up from scratch raided by burglars.
They had made off with £17,000 of equipment from his yard and caused around £2,000 of damage.
The culprits of the burglary at DRH Landscaping are yet to be found despite coverage of the incident in both the Chronicle and on a Channel 5 show.
Darrin said: "It had a major impact, firstly the shock of having someone enter your premises, and then when staff came in on Monday morning I had no tools to give them to complete their tasks as they'd all been stolen. I then had to inform all my clients and customers who fortunately were all very understanding.
"I think I would feel better if someone had been apprehended as you'd know it wouldn't happen to someone else again.
"But I'm not alone, I'm not the only person to suffer this sort of thing so you just have to pick yourself up, and I'm not going to let these rascals, to be polite, beat me."
Advice to thwart the burglars1. If you are replacing windows install ones certified to British Standard BS7950 windows of enhanced security. Think about using laminated glass 6.4mm or greater, particularly in ground floor and accessible windows as it's much harder to break.
2. Fit window locks to all easy-to-reach windows, for example, those on the ground floor, above a flat roof or near a drainpipe. Remove keys from locks and store them somewhere out of sight.
3. Strengthen wooden doors by fitting a steel strip and plates to the door frame and around the lock. These are called London and Essex bars.
4. Keep your doors locked even when you are at home.
5. Burglars are less likely to target a house with an alarm so make sure you fit one. Contact a professional to install it.
6. If you're going to be out all day or are going on holiday, set timers for lights to come on when it gets dark.
7. Check for weak spots in fencing around a property, such as a low sagging fence or a back gate with a weak lock.
8. Think about laying gravel in your garden and driveway – burglars don't like it because it's noisy to walk on.
9. A thorny hedge around your home can put thieves off but make sure passers-by can still see the front of your home so a burglar can't work unnoticed.
10. Nominate a key holder, a person that can be contacted if there is a problem with your home and police are unable to contact you. To register for the scheme download a form from www.essex.police.uk/pdf/s_ky_01.pdf
