A Clydebank great-gran has been left too scared to sleep after CCTV captured a man lurking outside her bedroom window.
Frances Stewart, 75, was staying with a relative overnight when the incident occurred. A neighbour alerted her to the intruder in the garden of her sheltered housing home in Clydebank in the early hours of Sunday morning.
After checking her CCTV and spotting the man, Frances notified Dalmuir Park Housing Association with the warden later contacting police, the Daily Record reports.
Now, four days after the intruder, who made off with a garden ornament, appeared, Frances said she is living in fear that he will return and unable to sleep.
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She said: "I'm 75, disabled and I live on my own. I’m absolutely shattered and I’ve not been able to sleep for the past two nights because of this.
"I'm shaken even talking about it. It's the thought of him prowling about at night and what if he comes back?
"I’m just so glad I wasn't home at the time. I was away staying with my cousin who had taken me on holiday. When I came back, one of my neighbours said she thought kids had been in the garden and that some of her stuff was missing.
"I checked my camera just to make sure that my house was okay and I caught him prowling about my garden and walking off with a big Greek lady ornament that I had at my veranda door.
"He was hovering about the close by my bedroom window. He didn't look like a young thug, he looked to be in his late 30s to 40s.
"He's white and was wearing lime green knee-length shorts, a combat jacket, a skip cap, white trainers and white socks."
But despite her ordeal, Frances says her housing association and the police initially offered little in the way of reassurance.
She said: "The housing warden made the first call to the police after he came and saw the video. He said he'd give me the incident number but I said it was okay as the police would likely come out. But they never came. They don't seem bothered.
"I stayed in Inveraray for 22 years and moved to Clydebank five years ago when my husband got dementia so we could be nearer family. He passed away six months later.
"I thought I was safer here because I was in sheltered housing. But it doesn't feel like it right now.”
But Frances has since heard from both Police Scotland and Dalmuir Park Housing Association.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Around 3.30 pm on Sunday, 2 July 2023, a call was made to police regarding the theft of garden furniture from an address in Nairn Street, Clydebank. The theft had taken place around 2.25am that morning. Enquiries are at an early stage.”
A spokesperson for the Dalmuir Park Housing Association said: “The Association was made aware of the incident on Sunday 2 July 2023 and reported this incident to the police.
“This is now a police matter. The Association is presently liaising with the tenant.”
