Gang raids city home as couple asleep in their bed

Published on Saturday 6 September 2008 10:35

A CLOTHING firm boss today told how a gang of thieves ransacked her home while she slept before loading their haul into her car and making off.

Businesswoman Gill Eastgate and her husband Ray Foreman were only woken when neighbours raised the alarm in the early hours of yesterday morning following the raid.

The culprits loaded up a flatscreen TV, games consoles and other valuables into the 37-year-old's Volkswagen Beetle car after stealing the keys.

The break-in was the latest in a string of incidents in the Capital where thieves have forced their way into a home to find keys and steal a vehicle.

During the raid at their home in Silverknowes, the thieves ignored a cupboard full of expensive champagne which the couple collected after marrying in Las Vegas earlier this year.

Bizarrely, they left behind a rucksack full of empty Irn Bru bottles.

But neighbours spotted the car being driven erratically up the street without lights on and raised the alarm. Police later recovered the vehicle and some of the stolen goods.

Mrs Eastgate said her biggest fear when neighbours alerted her to the break-in was that the raiders may have harmed her pets – two rabbits, a hamster and numerous fish.

She said: "You read about some of the sick things that happen during break-ins. I was relieved when I found all the animals were OK.

"Then my next thought was for my laptop and my Blackberry which are essential to my business. Luckily, they were upstairs at the time."

The raid took place at the couple's three bedroom semi in the early hours of yesterday after the raiders forced their way through patio doors at the rear.

Mrs Eastgate said: "It is a horrible feeling to know that I was upstairs in my bed none the wiser, while these people were going through my belongings. We've got no idea how long these people were in the house.

"In a way I'm glad we slept through it because if we had woken up Ray would almost certainly have gone downstairs, and I dread to think what could have happened. As it is, the police quickly managed to recover our car and some of our possessions, including a whole selection of fabric samples and designs that are absolutely vital to my business.

"This kind of experience leaves a horrible feeling of violation."

Mrs Eastgate's business NKD Clothing Ltd is based at Powderhall. Since staging a management buyout of the company in 2005, she has doubled its turnover to 1.3 million-a-year, supplying staff uniforms and corporate workwear to dozens of businesses across the UK.

Mrs Eastgate added: "I have to admit, I didn't really feel like coming into work after something like that."

&#149 Police have detained three men in connection with the break-in.