A couple came home from work to a pair of strange shoes after the cottage they rent in Brixton was broken into.
It appeared the perpetrator tried on a few pairs of shoes before finding a perfect fit that pleased him enough to leave his behind.
The occupant, Boineelo Seokwang, said his girlfriend noticed something was wrong when she found the bathroom window open.
“She called me to come have a look and when I saw that the window was open, I immediately went to check if there was anything missing,” Seokwang revealed.
“To our dismay, the laptop, external hard drive and modem were missing from the living room where they are usually kept.”
When Seokwang walked into the bedroom, he realised that the perpetrator had gone through his wardrobe and managed to steal a pair of sneakers, a cellphone and a watch.
Seokwang then called 10111 to report the incident, which turned out to be a waste of air time.
“We called three times and even went to the Brixton police station to find out if a van had been dispatched but they still didn’t pitch that night. Instead, one 10111 operator told us that our case didn’t take priority.”
The couple pursued the matter further the following morning by reporting the incident at the Brixton police station again, after which two officers were sent to investigate immediately.
They told the officers that they suspected the maintenance man as there was no sign of forced entry. The window couldn’t possibly have been opened from the outside, nor could a person squeeze through the burglar bars.
“Both the officers agreed that this was an inside job made to look as though the perpetrator entered through the window while he actually went in through the door. They also said they deal with such cases often this time of the year because students have gone home and the maintenance men or caretakers can enter as they please without being seen or suspected,” Seokwang added.
The matter is being investigated by the Brixton police.