THE grandmother of a boy with severe learning needs said she does not feel safe in her own home after a break-in which saw valuables and their specially adapted car stolen.
Dawn Battersby, 51, from Beechwood, is the primary caregiver to her grandson, 11-year-old Brogan Battersby, who is completely blind and suffers from autism, epilepsy and a joint instability syndrome meaning his joints regularly dislocate.
In the early hours of Saturday night, someone broke into Mrs Battersby’s home, taking valuables and the keys to her wheelchair-accessible Volkswagen Caddy – which was also taken.
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Mrs Battersby said the thought of someone being in the house while they slept, just one room away from Brogan – whose room has to be on the ground floor – didn’t bear thinking about.
“I went up to bed at around midnight,” she said. “I locked all the doors up and took the key out and put it on the side.
“In the morning I didn’t notice anything was gone at first. I then realised my keys weren’t there. I asked my daughter if she had them, and she said the door had been open when she got in [at around 4am].
Brogan and Dawn Battersby. Picture: Dawn Battersby
“I went to the living room and saw my car wasn’t outside. I phoned Brogan’s dad, my son, asking if he had the car, which he didn’t.
“My iPad had been on charge downstairs and that was gone. That’s when the penny dropped someone had been in the house.
“I don’t think the burglar got any further than the hallway, but the thought of having someone in my house just a room away from Brogan freaks me out.
“Brogan’s room is downstairs. If he heard something, he would’ve called out. That might have put the burglar off.
“The thought that someone was so close to Brogan when he can’t see and he can’t move, it would’ve scared the living daylights out of him.
The distance between the hallway, where Dawn suspects the burglar got to, and Brogan's room. Picture: Dawn Battersby.
“A total stranger just waltzed in here when we’re not even letting health professionals in.
“Brogan hasn’t been in school since the last week of March last year. The thought of someone coming in while we were sleeping that we couldn’t have any guard up against. What’s been our safe space since March has now been taken away from us by an individual stepping over a threshold they shouldn’t have.”
The burglars made off with the car, and other valuables including Mrs Battersby’s iPad and some jewellery.
After an appeal on the St Julians Matters Facebook group, someone got in touch having found the car.
“My son had a call from a friend saying they had found it in Caerleon,” said Mrs Battersby. “This was on the afternoon of January 3. Brogan had a hospital appointment today [January 6], which we couldn’t have got to without that vehicle.
Brogan Battersby getting into the specially adapted car, which was stolen on December 3. Picture: Dawn Battersby.
“The same evening, my next-door neighbour’s van was broken into and their tools were stolen. They were found thrown in the back of my car.
“We’ve had the locks changed on the house and are getting them changed on the car.
“We are just living in fear with it all.
“For someone to take that vehicle from us is just reckless. As at any point we could have needed it in an emergency.
Brogan and Dawn Battersby. Picture: Dawn Battersby
“It cost me the excess on my home and car insurance, and it’s costing me hundreds of pounds to change all the locks. I wouldn’t like to think what the total cost would be, especially just after Christmas, just to feel safe in our own home.”
A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: “It is a believed that an iPad and car keys were stolen during the break-in. A vehicle belonging to the owner of the property was also stolen.
“The vehicle was later recovered in Caerleon and returned to the owner.
“Anyone with any information relating to this incident is asked to contact Gwent Police on 101, or DM us on our social media pages, quoting: 2100002254.”
Information can also be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org
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