The couple, who run a local interior design company, were shocked when they were woken up at 5.30am on Monday by callous crooks who threw a brick through a side window of their house in Burnet Rose Gardens and stole their car and house keys.
Fiona said: “They were gone in seconds. None of us could sleep last night. My daughter is constantly terrified that they will come back and I can’t stop looking out the window.
“We have an alarm in the house, so you think you’re OK. It was so stupid of me to hang keys at the front door.
“It makes you so angry that you work hard to get things in life and horrible people just want to invade your home and take it off you.”
The Ramages’ 16-year-old son Greig, a Duncanrig high pupil, spotted the abandoned family car just half a mile from their home in Burn Crooks Avenue as he walked to school yesterday.
Unbelievably, the crooks ignored a satellite navigation system and designer sunglasses and opted instead to steal a hoard of Easter eggs and Colin’s training bag containing his unwashed gym wear.
His proud dad Colin said: “I’m so glad we got the car back. It’s only a bit of metal, but it’s an expensive bit of metal.
“Greig doesn’t normally walk that way to school and just spotted it on the off-chance. It’s amazing. He wants extra pocket money this week.”
DC Paul Swinburne said the criminals see East Kilbride as a “easy target”.
He said: “As crime evolves, cars are more difficult to steal so opportunist thieves are making sure they get their hands on keys.
“An organised gang who we believe are funding an illegal drug ring are operating in East Kilbride because they see it as a soft touch. People are making it easy for them because they are not checking their home security. It is essential that the community make it as difficult as possible to discourage them.”
A dedicated team of plain-clothed and uniformed cops are now patrolling housebreaking hotspots throughout the town during peak times.
Police are also investigating the theft of a Mazda 3 Sport from Durbin Avenue in Lindsayfield on Monday, an Audi A3 from Bentinck Grange in Jackton on Saturday, and two housebreakings in Robinson Lane and Callaghen Crescent in Jackton on Sunday where opportunist thieves made off with thousands of pounds worth of goods.
A 19-year-old Glasgow man appeared at Hamilton sheriff court on Monday in relation to the theft of an Mazda RX8 from Ballantrae in Stewartfield on Saturday. The car was recovered in Glasgow’s East End.
