In Their Own
Words - Family Time
This week on
In Their Own Words, we ask some people to remember their adventures in the hands
of robbers, home invaders and others when they were young people in the 1970s.
We start
with Tommy, who came home with his sisters and his mother to a surprise visitor
I was seven
years old when this happened we had been out for the day, me, my sisters Tammy
and Tuppence, and our mother. Mum was wearing a white vest top and a short,
striped skirt, as well as her white go-go boots, while I was wearing a checked
short sleeved top, brown pant and training shoes.
Tammy was two
years older than me, and Tuppence three years older Tammy was wearing a sleeveless pants set with a purple colour and a pattern,
white socks and brown sandals, and Tuppence a yellow t-shirt, striped flares
and brown sandals.
So we drove
home, and we went into the house only for someone to grab me from behind and
put a hand over my mouth. I looked over to see two men who had grabbed my
sisters and hand gagged them as well and my mother going pale as he asked what
they were doing in our house.
Whoever was
behind me told her to keep quiet, and nobody would get hurt and then he pulled
my hands behind my back, and I felt something rough as they were held tightly
together. I could see the same thing was happening to Tammy and Tuppence, as
Mum told us all it was going to be all right, and nothing would happen to us if
we remained calm.
We were then
made to sit on the floor, as one of the men used what I now saw was twine to tie our ankles together, and another one tied Mum’s
wrists together behind her back before she saw made to sit down and her ankles
tied together.
Me, Tammy and
Tuppence were them forced to let them push a rolled-up cloth into our mouths,
the edges sticking out while the man made Mum call Dad
and tell him something and then she had the cloth pushed into her mouth as well
before the men just sat and waited.
It seemed like
an eternity before the telephone rang again, stopped and then rang twice. One
of the men picked it up, listened, then nodded as he put the phone down and
pulled the wire out of the wall before they left us there, Mum twisting round
and trying to get free as we just sat there
Paula was a
teenager when someone broke into her home one night
It was the
summer of ‘76 that long hot one and I was in my room trying to finish a book I
had started reading. I remember I was wearing a light pink shirt sleeved dress
with a floral print, a thin white belt round my waist, and white shoes.
Anyway, I was
so engrossed in the book I did not hear the door of my room open until I heard
the cough, and I looked up to see a young man standing there, with a black mask
over his eyes.
“What are you a
burglar” I remember saying, and then he nodded and I started to feel afraid.
“I’m not going
to hurt you,” he said quietly, “but I do need of make sure you cannot raise the
alarm.” He held up a roll of silver tape, and said “put the book down, and put
your hands behind your back.”
He was
charming, certainly but as I put my hands behind my back, I said “where is my
sister and mother?”
“I’m going to
take you to them,” he said as I heard the sound of the
tape coming off the roll, and then felt it on my wrists as they were held
firmly together. He then tore a strip off, and pressed it down over my mouth,
before he helped me to stand up and we walked into my parent’s bedroom.
My mother and
sister were there, my mother sitting on the bed wearing a pink dress with a
short skirt, capped sleeves and a large bow at her tneck, and white shoes. Her
hands were behind her bac, but I could see the silver band round her ankles,
and the strip over her mouth as well.
My eight-year-old
sister was lying on her side on the bed, her head on Mum’s lap as she looked at
me. She was wearing a sleeveless pink dress that buttoned up the front, white
socks and shoes but her hands were behind her back, and there was silver tape
over her mouth and round her ankles as well.
The manmade me
lie across the foot of the bed, looking at them as I felt him tape my ankles
together as well, and looked round to see the open drawers and boxes. He then
left us there as my sister started to cry, and I tried to break free
Elsewhere
that same summer, Rhona and her family were enjoying quiet time in the back
garden
I remember
there were three of them two men and a woman who ran into our kitchen and held
a gun over us as we were eating lunch. I was ten years old; Maisie was nine,
and Henrietta sixteen.
Mum just stared
at them and told them to get out but the woman came and stood by me and Maisie,
and said we were going to do what they said, or we would be hurt. I looked at
Mum, who was wearing a red vest top, black pants and bowling shoes, and then at
Henrietta in her green patterned t-shirt and flares, a band holding her light
brown hair back, and white sandals on her feet.
The girl put
her hands on our shoulders and told us to stay here, while the men made Mum and
Henrietta Walk outside. I asked what was going to happen, but the woman just
said to sit quietly, and nothing bad would happen.
Eventually, the
men came back in, one of them walking into the house as the other handed the
woman a roll of white tape. She told us to put our hands behind our back, and I
felt the tape sticking to my wrists and holding them tightly together behind my
back.
She then taped
Masie’s wrists together in front of her, before she pressed lengths of tape
down over our mouths and we were walked outside. Mum and Henrietta were lying
on the sun loungers, their wrists taped down to the arm rests, their ankles
taped together, and white tape over their mouths as well as they looked at us.
She then made
Maisie lie on Mum’s front, her head on Mum’s chest as she taped her ankles
together, and then helped me to lie on the mat on the grass, taping my ankles
together as well as I wriggled round. The sun was shining down as I smelt the
grass, and saw Maisie as she cuddled into Mum while Henrietta watched.
When they left,
I tried of twist free but it took an age before I managed of get my hands and
ankles free, then took the tape off my mouth before taking it off Mum’s mouth.
She told me I was very brave, and then to go and ask Mr Jones, our neighbour,
to call the police
Joanne had
been to a party with her mother when they came home to find someone else there
I was twelve
years old, and Mum and Dad had taken me to a part Dad’s company was holding. I
remember I was wearing a new dress it had a blue sleeveless top with frills at
the neck and armholes, and a long white skirt with blue fish on the front. I
was also wearing white socks and red shoes.
Mum was also
wearing a long dress her one was black and brown, patterned with a neckline
that crossed above her chest and went round the back of her neck. She was also
wearing black cork sandals.
Mum was going
to work early the next morning, so we left early to go home but someone else
was in the house when we walked in. He was tall, and wore black clothing and he
smiled as he apologised, but he was robbing us, and he had of tie us up so we
would not raise the alarm until he had got away.
He was very
persuasive, as we sat down on a couch, and he asked Mum to turn round, taking
some lengths of thin cord from his pocket as he did so. Mum smiled at me as he
took her hands behind her back, and told me it would be all right as he did
something to make sure they stayed there.
He then knelt down and used another length of cord to hold her
ankles together, before he pressed some sticking plaster down over her mouth.
He then told me to lie down with my head on Mum’s lap, and put my hands behind
my back.
I did that and
if let the cord on my bare wrists as they were tied together, and then round my
ankles as he tied them together as well, before I rolled onto my back and he
pressed the brown plaster down over my mouth. Mum looked at me and mumbled
something as he did that and I mumbled in return as he left the room, taking
Mums handbag with him.
I struggled a
little, but Mum shook her head and looked at me, so I just lay there as he came
back in, looked at our wrists and ankles, and then left us to wait for Das dot
come home
Shona was
held captive with her mother and grandmother
The thing I
remember most was the silence apart from Mum and Gran trying to talk to each
other. It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were sat in a line on her couch in
Gran’s front room.
Gran was
wearing a white twinset and a short black skirt, with red velvet shoes. Mum was
on my other side, wearing a black slip dress that came down to her knees, and
black low-heeled shoes.
Me? My main
recollection was it was a hideous dress white with short sleeves and very
large, coloured polka dots, with white socks and white mary
jane shoes. But that was not the real horror of that night.
We had been
talking when the man came in, and pointed a gun at us all. He made Mum use some
rope to secure my wrists together behind my back while gran had to watch. She
then was made to tie some rope round my arms and stomach, before I sat down and
she had to tie my ankles together, then my legs below my knees.
Gran was then
forced to do the same thing to Mum, and then he tied Gran up, before he took
their earrings, their rings, their necklaces, their watches and put them in a
bag before he gagged us all with black scarves between our lips.
And then he sat
and waited which is why it was so silent and scary at the same time. I felt
stiff and the scarf was getting wetter in my mouth, and the ropes were rubbing
on me, but he said nothing and then he just got up and left.
Why did he do
it? We never found out once Dad came to find us, Gran searched and nothing had
been taken. It was as if he tied us up to see us tied up
For our
final story today, Kim tells of how she grew to admire her older sister and
mother
They were truly
my heroes especially after we were robbed. It was after dark, and we were
watching television when Mum went to answer the door and then came back in with
her hand sin the air. She was wearing a white blouse, a long black skirt, black
shoes, and a frightened look.
My sister stood
up and asked what was wrong she had long brown hair and was wearing a brown
waistcoat and pants with a frilled blouse as well, and black socks. I was
wearing a floral print dress with elbow length sleeves, white tights and black
shoes and I was also frightened when I saw the woman behind Mum, and the knife
in her hand.
She told me to
lie face down on he couch, and Mum and my sister to
lie face down on the floor. They refused but then she walked over and held the
knife against me, so they both lay down and said not to harm me.
I was told to
lie face down and not move while she took a knapsack off from over her shoulder
and opened it before she took out a ball of wool. Making a loop in the end, she
knelt neck to Mum and crossed her ankles, then put the wool over her hands and
pulled it tight so that her wrists were held together. She then pulled her
ankles back and wrapped the wool round them to hold them together, before she
tied and cut it off.
She was
wriggling round as I watched her do the same thing to Mum, too scared to move
as she was tied up as tightly and then it was my turn. It felt strange on my
wrist, but I didn’t struggle as I felt her pull my ankles back and then tie
them with the wool, before it was cut free. I tried to move my legs, but it was
next to impossible
She then stuck
black tape over my mouth, and did the same to Mum and my sister, before she
left us alone and that was when they became my heroes. There was a pair of
scissors in a basket by the fireplace, and my sister started to push herself
over towards it, slowly, very slowly
Eventually she
managed to get the scissors in her hand and wriggle back, then used the blade
to saw through the binding on Mum and again it took an age, but eventually she
was able to shake the wool off, roll over and take the scissors and cut my
sister free before they both removed the tape from their mouths.
Mum then cut me
free as my sister went to fetch the police
That’s all
from In Their Own Words for this week until next time
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