A former burglar shares the best tips on how to protect your home

Darryl Kennedy, who led a professional gang of burglars and claims to have broken into 20,000 homes, is advising people on how best to protect their property

A former prolific burglar shares his top tips on how people can keep their homes safe from thieves.

Darryl Kennedy, who claims to have broken into 20,000 homes, has turned his back on a life of nearly 50 years of crime and is now advising homeowners on how best to protect their property from burglaries.

The 58-year-old, who started burglary and burglary at the age of nine and became the leader of a professional gang of burglars, shared his valuable insights with the Manchester evening news.

Darryl’s first piece of advice is that neighbors should work together to patrol each other’s homes. He says burglars can thwart residents who only have video surveillance in their own homes by stealing their hard drives.

But video surveillance on neighboring properties will likely deter burglars because they don’t want to risk breaking into two houses.

“Burglars know they have to be careful around your own house and avoid CCTV, but don’t think about checking your neighbors’ CCTV,” he said. “You’re actually better off protecting the house next door and letting them protect you.”

Darryl advises new buyers to look for homes with neighboring lots nearby. He says homes with no other properties overlooking them are most vulnerable to burglary because the chances of there being witnesses are greatly reduced.

He also suggests investing in deadbolts for living room and kitchen doors, since locking the hallway before bed means burglars breaking into one of these rooms will find themselves locked inside.

Darryl explained that in such a scenario, a burglar is likely to flee because kicking in the door increases the likelihood that the occupants of the house will wake up.

He said: “There probably won’t be many valuables in those rooms – they’ll be looking for the bedrooms with the jewelry boxes.

“But there’s no chance they’ll risk kicking down the door and disturbing you in bed.” “Remember, you don’t know who’s down there, but they don’t know who’s up either – it could be a 1 His bodybuilder is 80 meters tall. The sound of the door being kicked would also give you enough time to call the police, which they don’t want.”

Finally, Darryl says that beanbags – especially in children’s rooms – make excellent hiding spots for valuable items like jewelry and watches, as they’re the last thing burglars would look for.

He said: “The first thing I would do after breaking into a house is go to the master bedroom. It’s the first thing a burglar thinks of – that’s where all the valuables are.

“They don’t want children’s clothes, and they especially don’t want children to wake up, so they will never go into the children’s room.”