Expat suffers three thefts in two weeks

AN Irish businesswoman living in Nueva Andalucia saw a dream holiday turn into a nightmare as she suffered three thefts and burglaries in under two weeks.

The first incident happened before the woman had even let for the US, where she was planning to go with her daughter.

While the family was upstairs packing on October 25, someone broke in and stole two bags from the hallway, containing €3,000 and her car key, and her car from outside.

She only noticed the car was missing when she went to drive to the airport the next morning, and had to call her lawyer from Madrid to ask him to report the theft. That afternoon the car’s tracking system allowed the National Police to locate the car in Torremolinos.

Four days later she received a phone call in Miami from her alarm company telling her the alarm had gone off. When the police arrived 25 minutes later they found a burglar has smashed a window and entered, stealing jewellery worth €20,000 before escaping across a neighbouring golf-course.

Although she then asked a friend to move in while she was away, the burglar is believed to have been back on a few days later. As she waited to board her flight home on November 5, the woman yet again received a call from the alarm company. This time the police went straight round and reported that luckily this time nothing had been stolen although a bedroom appeared to have been thoroughly searched.

As police investigate to try and track down the burglar, neighbours on the urbanisation have expressed their concern about the events and are thinking of upping their security measures.