A mother has told how two men attempted to smash into her Highgate home as she and her two young children cowered inside.
May Chiao, 46, was home alone with her daughters, six and nine, at 6.45pm last Wednesday when she heard a sound like a table crashing to the floor as a man attacked her front door.
The burglar, who had an accomplice waiting on a moped nearby, was returning with a screwdriver but fled when Mrs Chiao activated a panic button.
She said: “Both my daughters were really shaken - my eldest was apparently hiding under a table - and I’ve never been that scared in my life.
“There’s a general feeling of you’re not actually safe inside your own home and it’s not a good one.”
A neighbour, who had noticed the burglars looking at Mrs Chiao’s upstairs window, contacted her and then alerted the police at 6.49pm. They arrived ten or fifteen minutes later.
However, Mrs Chiao is not optimistic that the suspects will be caught, as both men were wearing helmets.
She said: “We’re now sleeping with our alarm on, which we never did before, and our neighbours are triple locking their door.
“It’s probably a combination of lots of factors but most people do feel that these moped muppets are out of control.”
Highgate Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Cindy Jackson said this incident reflected an upwards trend in crime in Highgate over the last few years.
She said: “If nothing is done then crime will spiral until Highgate is a no-go area.
“It’s getting to the point where it’s almost worth banning mopeds, definitely whenever I see a two-wheeled vehicle I am immediately on my guard.
“It would be inexcusable if somebody died and only then they decided to do something, really the time to do something was a year ago.”
She added that she was sympathetic towards local police, who have to face an increased workload and budgets cuts.
A police spokesman said that no arrests had been made and enquiries continue.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Met Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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