By Cara Sulieman
A BABY has had a miracle escape after sick yobs smashed a brick through a bedroom window – showering her moses basket with razor sharp shards of glass.
Tiny 11-week old Chloe Girdwood only cheated injury because she was ill and being comforted in the arms of her doting mum Fiona Wallace when the thugs struck.
Last night Fiona, 25, revealed it is the THIRD time in as many weeks that her Linlithgow home has been targeted – leaving her and partner Andrew Girdwood, 28, living in fear.
She said: “I don’t want to think about what could have happened to her.”
Shattered
“I was sitting with the lights on and the curtains open – they must have seen us. It was about 10pm and I heard this huge smashing noise again.
“Andrew and I went through to the bedroom and there was a brick lying on the bed just yards away from Chloe’s moses basket.
“Glass had shattered all over the room and in the baby’s cot – imagine if she had been in there?
“It was a lucky escape.
“Chloe is usually in bed by 8.30pm but she was ill and was still up. If she had been well she would have been in the basket.”
“Terrifying”
They are terrified it will happen again and have moved their precious daughter into the back bedroom because they are scared for her safety.
Fiona, 25, said: “We have lived in this flat for five years and have never had any problems.
“Now we’ve had three separate attacks in three weeks. It’s terrifying.”
The first attack happened on a Friday night at around 8pm.
The family were up together in the living room when they heard the bedroom window smash.
Insurance
Fiona said: “The first time we were all up and sitting in the living room when we heard a smashing sound coming from the front bedroom.
“Andrew went running through and saw that something had been thrown at the window.
“The outside pane had been smashed and was all shattered.
“I called the police and the insurance company, who said that they would come out and measure up the window the following week.”
But it wasn’t the end of the ordeal as the vandals were back the following Friday.
“Couldn’t believe it”
“The following Friday I had just got back into bed after feeding Chloe at about 3am when there was another loud smashing noise.
“This time the outer pane was completely smashed and the inside pane was shattered.
“I couldn’t believe it had happened again.”
The couple again called the police and the insurance company, who hadn’t yet replaced the window after the first attack.
And Fiona thought it was time to take some action to catch the thugs.
CCTV
She said: “I got one of those home security cameras and put it up over the front door pointing at the windows.
“I just thought that the next Friday we would get the same problems again but this time the camera would be on.
“I’ve been switching it on every night before I go to bed.”
But the camera failed to catch the yobs the next time they struck – as Fiona and Chloe were still up watching television in the front room.
This time the window was only being held together by laminated plastic and the missile went straight through.
“Needs to stop”
The couple have since moved the tiny baby into their second bedroom at the back of the flat out of fear for her safety – and the CCTV is now on 24 hours a day.
On the third attack Fiona saw two young boys around 16 or 17 years old run away from their house.
Fiona said: “We don’t know why these boys are doing this but it needs to stop. I have no idea why they seem to be targeting us, but it’s horrible.”
The first attack took place on Friday 7 August followed by a second the following Friday, 14 August.
The third which involved the brick was on Monday 17 August.
Extra resources
Lothian and Borders Police are investigating and said there had been similar reports from elsewhere.
A spokesman said: “There have been other incidents in the area as well.
“The police are looking into all these incidents and have stepped up policing in the area with extra foot patrols and other resources.
“We are appealing to members of the public to come forward if they know anything about the incidents.”
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