A mother was left feeling "violated and exposed" after she caught a workman rifling through her underwear drawer.
Ashley Blakey felt physically sick when she caught the workman going through her drawers on her in-house CCTV on May 5 last year. The Thirteen Housing workman had attended her home to fix an alarm, but Ashley left him alone when she had to travel to Newcastle for a job interview.
Whilst out, the 36-year-old received a notification from her CCTV camera alerting her that motion had been detected in her bedroom. It was then that she saw the workman raking through her underwear drawer and allegedly stealing items.
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Speaking of the ordeal, Ashley, from Darlington, said: "It all started when my house alarm needed fixing, and this man came to my property to carry out the work. After he arrived, I had to leave to go to Newcastle for a job interview. I've suffered from domestic abuse in the past and so have a CCTV camera in my bedroom that faces outside, but it can be swivelled 360 degrees, so I turned the camera around to face my bedroom while I was out. The camera gives me alerts on my mobile phone whenever there's motion detected."
At first, Ashley was stumped as to why she received the alert as the workman was only required to carry out work downstairs. She said: "There was no need for him to be in my bedroom at all, all of the fittings were downstairs. I caught him on my CCTV going into my bedroom and going through my underwear drawer.
"When I spotted him doing this, I called Thirteen Housing and it took 20 minutes to get through to someone. I wouldn't return to the house until he'd gone. I felt sick, I was sweating and shaking."
After the incident came to light, the workman was immediately dismissed by Thirteen and arrested. However, the man was released with no further action as there was "no real prospect of conviction".
Ashley added: "Never in my life have I ever experienced anything like that before from a professional. It's bang out of order." Ashley, who still lives at the address but is wanting to move, also believes more could have been done by Thirteen. She continued: "The workman was dismissed but no one from Thirteen rang me or apologised, nothing. They gave me £200 to clean my property, but did not take into account how I felt, it's disgusting.
"There was money in the house and my laptop but nothing else was taken, just my underwear. I have a teenage daughter and what if she'd been in the house at the time alone? It makes me feel sick. It made me feel violated and exposed, and I shouldn't feel like that in my own home."
Thirteen's executive director of customer services, David Ripley, said: "The safety of our customers is our absolute priority. As soon as we became aware of the incident last year, we carried out a full investigation, and we moved quickly to deal with the individual who no longer works for us. Colleagues spoke with and visited the customer and apologised for what occurred. We also provided options to the customer if she wished to pursue them, as well as compensation for the unfortunate event.
“We have clear behavioural standards and values that all our staff must follow, and we greatly regret that the actions of a sole employee have caused distress and we would like to once again apologise to the customer. I can assure customers that references and pre-employment checks are carried out and where required DBS checks are undertaken in line with the duties of the role’s colleagues perform at Thirteen."
Mr Ripley added: “We expect the highest of standards from our colleagues, and we’d like to reassure the customer that this incident was addressed swiftly."
A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said: "Police were called to reports of a burglary that reportedly took place at an address in Darlington, on May 5 last year. Officers launched an investigation and arrested a 36-year-old man in connection with the incident.
"After gathering all available evidence, a file was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who concluded that there was no realistic prospect of conviction based upon the evidential test which is required before someone is charged with a criminal offence. As a result, the man was released with no further action."
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