Why I invited an ex-burglar to case my home

Jill Insley invited ex-burglar Michael Fraser to assess how easy it would be to break into her home
christmas tree
Leaving your curtains open to show off your Christmas lights is an invitation to burglars. Photograph: Katherine Rose for the Observer

My daughter was outraged when she discovered I had invited a real burglar around to "case" our house. At the risk of being blacklisted by every house insurer in the UK, I asked the now thoroughly reformed ex-burglar Michael Fraser of BBC's Beat the Burglar to assess how easy it would be to break in, and how attractive it was as a target.

Fraser is working with insurance comparison website Confused.com to highlight the need for homeowners to be security savvy. I knew I was in trouble when it took him five minutes to point out my failings before he had even entered the house.

First of all, it was dark and I had left the curtains open so people could see the Christmas tree lights. But it also enabled anyone walking past to see right through my open plan living area to the french doors at the back. "The Christmas tree means it's probably a family home, while your bookcases mean it's probably a middle-class household and worth burgling," he said. "Your front gate is open. Shutting it is like a psychological barrier - it's like folding your arms in front of your chest when you're talking to someone. You also don't have an alarm."

It was good that I had a motion-sensitive light fixed above the front door and a sticker in the window showing that a previous owner had belonged to Neighbourhood Watch, but I quickly lost those brownie points when he spotted that the Chubb lock was a bit dull and that there were no nicks in the paintwork around it: "You don't use the bottom lock, do you?"

I assured him I did, but eventually admitted I had only started recently when I heard someone down the road had been burgled. Fraser rolled his eyes and stepped into the hall, where a pile of unopened mail would provide any self-respecting burglar with enough details to keep inquisitive neighbours at bay. He explained how, on one Beat the Burglar episode, he had broken into a house and was loading goods into suitcases when the next-door neighbour came round to find out what he was up to.

"I had found enough letters in the house to tell me a bit about who lived there, so I said that Laura was moving out because she had been having an affair and her partner had found out. She had given me the keys and asked me to shift the stuff, so she didn't have to face her partner again.

"The neighbour was so gobsmacked with the gossip that all she wanted to do was go and tell someone about it. She forgot all about being suspicious of me," said Fraser.

My letterbox also failed the test. "It should have a box over it," he said, and then proceeded to show me how, with a long piece of wire, he could reach through the opening to hook my house and car keys laying conveniently on the sideboard about four feet away.

I had left empty Tesco bags considerately in the hallway for the burglar to fill up with goodies.

Some of the windows at the front weren't locked (they are now, I promise you) but Fraser said that few burglars would risk trying to get in there. "They'll go to your back door," he said.

Would burglars always try to unlock doors? "Yes - they wouldn't want to break glass in case they injure themselves and leave DNA behind."

My very dark back garden would provide perfect cover for someone breaking in. Fraser suggested I fix a movement sensitive light above the back door, too, and added that I should put anti-burglar paint on the drainpipe.

My final gift to the burglars of south London, however, was totally unexpected. A calendar, hung up to face the kitchen window, gave full details of when we would be out, or away. So, having burgled us once, the well-informed burglar could wait until our next holiday and return for seconds.

My house is now like Fort Knox.