Householders should be alarmed following the recently released figures for burglaries in England and Wales. In 2008-2009 the police recorded 284,427 burglaries, which equates to one person being burgled every 2 minutes. Whilst 56,000 of these burglaries were taking place, the occupant was confronted by the burglar and most worryingly 23,000 householders were actually attacked by the burglar. This means a householder is attacked every 30 minutes.

Despite this situation it seems that increasingly UK law is more concerned with the perpetrators’ human rights than the victims. This has recently been demonstrated by the publicity concerning Myleene Klass who attempted to defend her home and child by frightening off burglars in the grounds of her home. It seems that waving a knife at an intruder from the confines of your own home is considered unreasonable force. In yet another case, Mr Munir Hussain was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm following assault on a burglar who had threatened his captive family at knifepoint in their own home during a violent burglary. Although subsequently freed from jail, presumably Mr Hussein now has a criminal conviction recorded against him, albeit suspended, whereas it is likely that the burglar will receive a suspended sentence and compensation for criminal injuries.

Unfortunately it seems more than likely that burglary and more worryingly, violent burglary, will increase due to the continuing recession, increasing job losses, the rise in drug offenders, the growing use of out-of –court penalties and the government’s intention to reduce the overcrowded prisons by introducing ‘early release’ schemes for burglars and robbers. One of the best things that householders can do to protect their homes and possessions is to effect comprehensive house and contents insurance. For people in higher income brackets who have homes with a rebuild value in excess of £350,000 or contents and possessions in excess of £100,000 there is a wide range of specialist home insurance companies available to them. Many offer specialised insurance policies referred to as mid-high net worth or high value homes cover. These specialist policies offer far wider scope and wider benefits and terms. Some will include such things as family protection, road rage, air rage, stalking, car jacking, identity fraud, kidnap expenses and as mentioned above most importantly benefits for aggravated burglary. The insurer will include medical expenses cover, psychiatric services, salary rest and recuperation expenses and for the physical damage; improved home security, security guards and even temporary or permanent relocation expenses. Surprisingly, this type of insurance is not prohibitively expensive, as it would appear that the more you are worth relatively the premium rates percentage wise are less.