A brazen burglar spends two hours raiding a family home and helping himself to drinks from their fridge – while they sleep upstairs.
The cocksure crook went in and out of the house four times loading his loot into the owners’ car.
He stole jewellery, laptops, credit cards, a schoolbag and cigarettes and even had a casual smoke on the drive before leaving in the Ford Galaxy.
Owners Doug and Veronica Quipp knew nothing of Tuesday’s break-in until their son Cole, seven, woke and found the kitchen window open and their jukebox missing.
They reviewed their home CCTV and were stunned to see the thief taking his time to carry out the raid in Walderslade, Kent between 5am and 7am.
Veronica, 36, said: “When we saw the CCTV footage we were dumbfounded.
“He goes through the house at such a leisurely pace. He acted like he was a guest in our house.
“Before he leaves he is seen standing on the driveway smoking a cigarette.
“He chucks the cigarette butt on the ground and then gets in my car and reverses out of the driveway. He didn’t rush at all.
“I’ve watched some of the CCTV but I can’t bring myself to watch it all. It makes me feel sick.”
Veronica, who runs the Canadian Candy Apple Company with Doug, 33, added: “My greatest concern is that this man has been in my house just yards away from my son.
“Cole woke up just 10 or 15 minutes after he left. What would have happened if he had woken up earlier and bumped into him?”
Veronica’s engagement and eternity rings were both stolen and the thief even rifled through Cole’s toy box.
He found time to swig from cans of Red Bull in the fridge before escaping in the Galaxy which was dumped in a nearby field.
The family has four dogs but three of them were being cared for at a vet’s after being struck down with a mystery sickness bug.
The fourth, which is only a puppy, was asleep in Veronica and Doug’s bedroom.
Veronica said: “It seems strange that just days before the break-in, all the dogs got ill.
“They would have certainly barked if they were here at the time. We still don’t know what caused their illness.”
