Thieves threaten man with a knife after tearing apart van in Fareham

Two men used a crowbar to pull apart the doors of Paul Fuller’s van parked in his drive on White Hart Lane, Portchester, at 9.15pm on Monday.

The carpenter was out buying dinner at the time, but a neighbour heard the men tearing apart the van and went outside to confront the pair.

One of the men brandished a knife and said ‘if you come any closer, I’ll stab you,’ leading to the neighbour to return home to call Paul.

The 54-year-old said: ‘They had peeled the van like it was a tin of beans. It was so brazen.

‘With a knife, they know that people are not going to interfere. You don’t expect a knife to be pulled on you.’

One of the men referred to the other as ‘Jerry,’ before the pair fled the scene.

The raid has cost the carpenter more than £2,000 in stolen tools, including a £500 nail gun and more than eight batteries used in various drills.

The damage to the van could cost more than £1,000 or cause it to be written-off, according to Paul.

It is the second time he has been targeted in the space of a year, with thieves smashing his van last year in a suspected attack to check for an alarm system.

Paul, who lives with his 81-year-old father, said: ‘We had a spate of thefts from vans last year.

‘It still shocks me but over the last year its going really bad – it seems nearly every week there’s another break in.

He added: ‘The council needs to have more cameras up on street lights.’

Last year, more than 12 car and residential break-ins occurred between May and July, including a raid on an elderly couple’s bungalow whilst they slept inside.

Anyone who saw anything suspicious is asked to call 101, quoting 44200006967.