Victim, 81, turns home into fortress

A crime-plagued 81-year-old widow has turned her West Midland home into a fortress in an attempt to feel safe once again after a spate of burglaries and thefts.

Raiders have struck eight times in the past two months alone, forcing determined Dorothy Stanley to have wooden bars nailed across windows to keep villains at bay. The four-bedroom detached house in Wolverhampton, where she has lived for 50 years, now has CCTV cameras inside the property so she can monitor activity outside.

Retired hairdresser Mrs Stanley has three locks on each of the four doors giving access to the house, security lights in the garden, iron grills over some ground floor windows and a panic alarm linked to the local police station – but the criminals still keep coming.

So a six feet high fence will be erected around the house in the near future with special sensors to detect movement as part of a further £1,000 security revamp.

Mrs Stanley, who shares her home with seven year old Yorkshire terrier Jodie, was burgled on March 4 when a man burst in, pushed past the startled pensioner and escaped with her purse.

Five hours later – at one in the morning – another raider battered down a door and stole her bag.

Since then she has fallen victim to crime six more times, most recently yesterday when a raider fled after trying unsuccessfully to get in to the house.

She has been injured once and on several occasions the thieves have tried to pose as officials. At least three left empty handed.

Two fled after being disturbed while the third ran off when Mrs Stanley insisted on ringing police to check his ID. No more than £250 in total has been taken but the psychological price Mrs Stanley has been forced to pay has been huge.

The mother of two said today: "It is dreadful. My life has been affected in every way. My nerves are on edge and it gets you down but there is no way that I will be forced out.

"I am quite durable and very determined I get over things quickly which is just as well because they have been coming thick and fast. I feel like a prisoner in my own home but I know it will all be over one day. I have got faith in the police who I know are doing their best."

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Hyde of Wolverhampton police said: "We have increased patrols locally and have put various measures in place in an attempt to prevent further offences."