Having someone break into your property and invade your private sanctuary is an awful experience, regardless of what was stolen, broken or vandalised. Having a good action plan in place will help recoup your losses and protect yourself and your home better moving forward.

Firstly, process what’s happened. It may take you a few minutes to take in the scene and mentally understand that you’ve been broken into. It’s important to take it all in and get a sense of what has changed. Try to recount what was there before, what might be missing and who it might have been if relevant. Don’t touch anything or attempt to clean anything up.

Next, call the police. Depending on the time and scale of the break in, it’s usually a good idea to call the police as a priority. Once you’ve got the information around what happened clear, you can answer the standard questions such as where you are, what happened, if anyone is injured and so on.

While you wait for the police, and while everything is fresh in your mind, start to document as best you can. Take photos of disturbed parts of the house, things that are unusual and any damage. It’s often useful to take a video of the scene and recount your steps to talk through everything you remember. Make a list of things you think might be missing and if you have time, find older photos of missing objects as reference points.