'˜One in 10 burglary victims move home', Portsmouth academic finds

New research has also found victims have suffered physiological conditions, with one in four having sleep deprivation, and six per cent needed counselling to deal with trauma.

More than 2,000 victims were surveyed by Churchill Home Insurance with the help of Dr Claire Nee, a reader in forensic psychology at the University of Portsmouth.

Dr Nee said: ‘Being a victim of burglary is a traumatic experience for anyone and for some it can have a lasting emotional impact.

‘The thought of someone in our home, our safe place, looking through our personal things can leave us feeling violated and vulnerable.

‘The important thing for anyone who has been a victim to remember is that they are not on the burglar’s agenda.

‘The burglar targets a property to enter and exit as quickly as possible with a reasonable gain and actively wants to avoid meeting the homeowner.’

Dr Nee also interviewed experienced burglars, with three-quarters saying they had abandoned burglaries because they heard an someone in the house or returning to the home.

The study found that it took victims, on average, three days before things feel more or less back to normal.

But for 21 per cent, they did not feel this for a month and for eight per cent it took six months.

One in 10 said things never return to normal.