It's a net return for the window cover-up

The net curtains of the nation are twitching as more householders reach for the traditional symbol of middle England to protect them against burglars.

Just as interior design fashionistas were predicting the death of lacy window dressing in favour of the trendier blind, see-through drapes are making a timely comeback.

New figures reveal an increase in domestic break-ins for the first time in six years, while the last 12 months have seen a rise in the sale of net curtains. Often the butt of jokes, net curtains are fast becoming an unlikely low-tech weapon against intruders.

In one Wednesfield street, Blackhalve Lane, more than 70 per cent of the residents have net curtains.

At 21, Davina Torney is not your typical Net Curtain Nellie but she has been forced to resort to traditional window decoration for security reasons.

"We've been burgled four times in the three years we've been here so we definitely want to stop people looking in," said the mother-of-one. You just put them up and leave them, it saves a lot of hassle." Neighbour and grandmother-of-four Shirley Dean, 74, insists net curtains are far superior to blinds.

"I've had net curtains for as long as I can remember, as did my mother before me," she says. "I think it finishes the window and gives you a bit of privacy when you want it.

"Blinds attract the dust but with nets, you just bung them in the washing machine." Now her daughter Kerry, 43, is carrying on the family tradition. Security was uppermost in 58-year-old Sandra Williams' mind when she chose net curtains for her large bay windows. "They're not that easy to put up – I have to stand on the window ledge to manage it – but they give you that bit more privacy when you live on a main road."

Susan Meanley, 57, bought her nets at Bilston Market. "I like a good thickish material for privacy, so people can't see through them. Two of my daughters have nets as well, although the third has gone over to blinds."

For pensioner Rita Blakemore, 74, it was more a question of aesthetics. "Net curtains are very pretty," she said.

And neighbour Jean Wellsbury, 58, agreed: "They're easy to put up and they look nice – although the main reason I have them is privacy. Being on a main road, you never know who's knocking about."