Woman wakes to find intruder in her kitchen

A Toowoomba grandmother got the fright of her life when she got out of bed to find a strange man in her kitchen looking for something to steal. Here’s what happened next.

Janet Allen interrupted a thief inside her inner city home in Toowoomba. Picture: Nev Madsen.

A Toowoomba grandmother is beefing up her home security after coming face-to-face with an intruder only minutes after tucking into bed for the night.

Janet Allen said she had only just finished making her husband’s lunch for the next day and was dozing off to sleep when she saw a torch light dancing around her dining room about 10.30pm on Saturday.

“At first I thought the next-door neighbour must have an outdoor light,” she said.

The light persisted so Mrs Allen got up for a closer inspection and what she found gave her the fright of her life.

“There was a man standing in my kitchen,” she said.

“I said, ‘Who are you?’”

Realising what was happening Mrs Allen called her husband who was sound asleep at the time.

“I screamed like a banshee,” she said.

“I yelled, ‘There is someone in our house.’”

At first the man grumbled something incoherent but then bolted.

Mrs Allen said he ran to a nearby window, jumped on to her carport, climbed to the ground and fled along Clifford Street.

“I think he might have got a big shock as well,” she said.

The intruder stole two mobile phones and a ring that Mrs Allen gave to her husband on their 40th wedding anniversary.

Luckily he did not find her car keys.

“We keep them locked away,” Mrs Allen said.

The incident has left the couple feeling a little unsafe so they have decided to install extra security cameras outside their home.

“It was frightening,” Mrs Allen said.

“I didn’t know if he was going to be violent and I was standing in the doorway, blocking his only way out of the kitchen.”

The matter was reported to the police who are investigating.

The man is described as tall, thin and aged in his late teens or early 20s.

Anyone with information about the incident should phone Policelink on 131 000.