'Adopt a burgar's way of thinking' by Michael Fraser

When you're thinking about how to make your home burglar-proof, you have to think like an opportunist thief, because a burglar will look for the tell-tale signs of weaknesses in your home.

Start with the front of your house. If your gate is open or broken, an opportunist will see it as a weakness. It's an invitation. Always close your gate. If it's broken – fix it. And if you don't have one, get one. It's the first psychological barrier to keeping a burglar away.

If you have just one cylinder lock on your door, a burglar knows that he can get into your home no matter what. If you have two locks on your door and your next door neighbour only has one, the burglar will very likely go next door. He's not going to make more work for himself.

Avoid ‘Beware of the dog' signs. They are a sure indicator that you don't have an alarm in your property. A thief will also think that you probably leave your back door open to let the dog into the garden. The same goes for an ‘I love cats' sign, or something similar. Pet owners often don't have an alarm.

If the front of your house looks weak to an opportunist burglar, he can guarantee that the back of your house will be even weaker. As soon as a thief can get around to the back of your home, he knows he's probably safe.

As soon as a burglar is in your house, whether he got in from the front or back, he'll go to the front door with either a glass bottle or a broom. The thief will balance the bottle on the door handle. If the owner comes home, the bottle will fall off the handle and smash before they get inside. This gives the thief a warning sign and time to escape. Or he'll jam the door shut with a broom. Again, this will give the intruder a sign and time to escape if the owner fails to get into their house easily.

Humans are creatures of habit. They inevitably keep their house and car keys near the front door or in their handbag; a handbag will nearly always be left in the kitchen. Once a burglar is in your house, he'll look for keys first. Then he'll be looking to find out what your habits are. Your calendar will be very useful. Again, we humans are predictable and almost always have a calendar hanging in the kitchen. The thief will look for key dates – when you will be on holiday, when you have a dentist appointment – any clues about when you're scheduled to be out of the house.

The next thing on a burglar's list is to look for small items – non-bulky valuables that can be taken straight away. This might include jewellery, credit cards, bank statements and spare car keys. The thief will make a note of all the bulkier valuable items in your house – he'll be planning to come back again to get these when he knows you'll be out.

Now the burglar knows you. He knows what kind of person you are from the items in your house and he has your bank details to clone later. If the burglar has taken a spare set of keys to get into your house, he'll normally trash it before leaving. When a homeowner returns to a messy house, they have to go through everything to see what's missing. They'll normally be concerned about expensive jewellery, antiques and items of sentimental value. Keys are one of the last things people think of and so often don't realise they're missing. So when a burglar returns to finish the job, it'll normally be within 7 to 10 days of the first burglary and the locks have not been changed.

How can you prevent yourself from being the victim of a burglary? Michael's top tips:

1. One of the best things you can do is to film every room of your house in detail with a video camera, or take lots of photos. Not only does this help you to remember where everything was before the burglary, but it also helps you to prove to your insurance company that certain items were in your house.
2. A key tactic in burglary prevention is avoidance and not just alarming your property. For example, chain up your wheelie bin to a fence away from your house. A burglar will stand on a wheelie bin to get into the first floor of your house. Furthermore, a wheelie bin is like a filing cabinet, so shred all your documents before you throw them away.
3. Join your local Neighbourhood Watch, or display a sticker saying that you do. This demonstrates to the thief that you are aware of the risk of being a victim of burglary and he'll most probably decide to move on.
4. Having two locks on your front door is really important and make sure your windows have window locks that are visible from the outside looking-in. This will make your house seem like too much hard work to a burglar.
5. Fix broken garden gates.
6. Put a wire basket on the inside of your letter box. There's still space for letters to come through the door, but it prevents burglars from fishing for keys through the letterbox – thieves know that keys are often left on a table next to the front door.
7. Don't keep a calendar in your house – it tells a thief everything about you. Put a blind in the kitchen and in other rooms so that people can't see in. A thief can learn a lot about you before they even enter your house just by looking through the windows.
8. Keep suitcases and bags in the loft, or with their handles tied together. Otherwise a thief will use those very bags to transport items out of your house.
9. When parking your car, turn the wheel towards to curb rather than keeping the wheels parallel. It sounds so simple, but this makes your car alien to the opportunist thief because everyone parks their cars with the wheels straight. Those turned wheels means it will take a thief a few more seconds to steal your car. Every second counts and they don't want to take that extra risk of getting caught.
10. Keep windows and doors shut and locked, even when you are at home. A thief will burgle your property even when someone is inside, for example, when they see a bathroom light go on.
11. Use an alarm if you have one.
12. Don't make it obvious if you are a pet-owner. ‘Beware of the dog' often means ‘I don't have a house alarm' or ‘my back door is open' in burglar language!

Author note

Michael Fraser is an ex-burglar, who starred in BBC's 'To Catch a Thief' and 'Beat the Burglar', as well as Channel 4's 'One Last Job'. He is also a trustee of the Apex Trust, which helps young people with criminal records gain employment.