A MUM has told of the terrifying moment she caught a masked intruder standing outside her daughter’s bedroom in the middle of the night.

Emma Bradford, partner Kevin Young and their two children Anna and Olly were asleep in bed when she was awoken by the sound of footsteps creeping up her stairs at 4am.

Realising her home in Manuel Avenue, Beith, had been broken in to the horrified mum-of-two woke up Kevin, 29, who opened their bedroom door to the terrifying sight of a stranger standing just inches from their child’s room.

Emma, 38, said: “I heard the sound of footsteps, but I knew it wasn’t Kevin, because he was beside me and I knew it wasn’t the kids because the steps were very deliberate. Like one step, then nothing, then another step, then silence again. Like someone was trying to creep as quietly as possible.

“I shook Kevin and whispered ‘There is someone in the house’. He got up immediately and grabbed a baseball bat that we have in the wardrobe, and he opened the door and I saw him. 

“It was absolutely terrifying. I could see his silhouette, but his face was hidden. He was right outside Anna’s door. He immediately jumped from the top stair right down to the bottom and ran out the house and Kevin chased him with the bat.

“I just went and made sure the kids were ok and thankfully he hadn’t got the chance to go into their rooms.”
Emma, who runs Nosh in Barrmill, says the intruder wasn’t acting alone.

She said: “He ran to the bottom of the street and got into a white van and there was another person in there waiting and they drove away. Kevin managed to throw the bat at the van, but it didn’t stop them.”

The mystery intruder stole Kevin’s watch, a set of car keys and house keys, a bottle of Edinburgh Gin and the couple’s coats during the raid on June 4. 

But Emma says she fears the housebreaker had already stolen his loot and re-entered the home for more sinister reasons.

She said: “When Kevin chased him he definitely was not carrying out coats or anything else so we think he must have came in before and took the stuff to the van then returned. I just can’t stop thinking about why he was up the stairs and standing outside Anna’s bedroom. 

“I can’t sleep for thinking about it. I am barricading the doors with furniture every night before I go to bed. It has left us all really shaken. I just can’t believe people think it is ok to come in to your home and take what is yours. It’s just disgusting.”

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “Officers from Kilbirnie Police Office attended the address after conducting an area search for the suspect who had been disturbed by the householders and fled with an accomplice in a motor vehicle.

“Enquiries are currently ongoing. We ask that anyone with any information contact 101 quoting incident number 0361 of the 4th of June.”