British family knocked out by gas and robbed of £60,000 of valuables

by

A British family enjoying a holiday in Spain were robbed of valuables worth £60,000 after masked burglars knocked them unconscious by ‘pumping gas under their villa door’.

Gail and Alfie Shaw, 69 and 68, were on a three-week break in their Costa Blanca villa with son Nick, his wife Hannah and their two year-old son.

But their dream trip turned into a nightmare when Nick, 31, woke to find a masked figure at the end of his bed.

The man waved something in front of his face which knocked him out and hours later the family all woke up with headaches and nausea.

Gail and Alfie Shaw were knocked unconscious by gas pumped into their home and woke to find £60,000 of valuables missing including expensive watches and laptops

Nick Shaw, 31, pictured with wife Hannah, woke to find one of the intruders at the end of the bed before being dosed again.

Nick Shaw, 31, pictured with wife Hannah, woke to find one of the intruders at the end of the bed before being dosed again. 

Police say the burglars pumped gas under the front door (pictured) before gaining entry

Police say the burglars pumped gas under the front door (pictured) before gaining entry

High profile burglaries where gas may have been used to knock-out home owners 

The unpleasant tactic of burglars pumping anaesthetic gas into people’s homes before entering is one more commonly associated with warmer regions – including Spain, France and Portugal.

This is because homes, particularly holiday homes, in these regions either have air conditioning systems, which can be access from the outside, or space under doors and via windows – to allow cool air to flow through the building. 

Security experts say the tactic is still a ‘highly unusual’ one though and more commonly used on caravans and motorhomes.

However high profile cases suspected to have involved gas have taken place in recent times.

In 2015, reports suggest that burglars who robbed the home of Formula 1 driver Jenson Button and his wife Jessica pumped gas into the house to put the couple and their friends to sleep before stealing £300,000 jewellery from the rented villa in Saint Tropez.

Former Arsenal footballer Patrick Vieira said he and his family were knocked out by gas during a 2006 raid on their home in Cannes.

Other high-profile cases, not involving celebrities, include John and Jacqueline Armitage, 72 and 70, who had their car stolen from outside their house in Mollina, Spain, in 2018 after they were gassed at night by thieves. 

There were also reports of a spate of burglaries in the Costa Del Sol in Spain in 2016, where a gang were gassing homeowners and then burgling the properties between Estepona and Manliva.

To their horror they found drawers had been ransacked and the thieves had taken £60,000 worth of valuables including Rolex watches, laptops and diamond rings.

Police told the family from Slough, Buckinghamshire, the burglars had most likely pumped gas under the door to knock them out.

They say they will never return to the villa they’ve owned for 15 years.

Manufacturing director Gail said: ‘Everything they took had huge sentimental value, which is devastating, but the worst thing is that the burglars were in our villa and we couldn’t do anything about it.

‘They rummaged through drawers inches from our heads – they even could have taken our grandson while we were all passed out, which is the scariest thing.

‘Since we returned to the UK, we’ve felt very anxious and unsafe and we think we’ll need counselling because we’re struggling to get over what happened.

‘After owning the villa for 15 years, we’ll definitely never be returning.

‘It’s like something you see in a horror movie, but you never expect anything like that to happen to you – until it did.

‘When police and forensics arrived, they told us an untraceable gas had most likely been piped under the door, or through the air conditioning system.

‘That explained why we all felt so terrible the following morning, but at first, we had no idea why.’

Nick and Hannah were visiting his parent’s villa home in the resort of Javea on the southeastern coast of Spain when the burglary happened in the early hours on September 1.

The items stolen included £25,000 worth of Rolex watches, £11,000 worth of jewellery, several Apple gadgets, and thousands in cash – costing £60,000 to replace.

The police crime report detailed how ‘they may have been drugged or dozed with some type of gas to perpetrate the theft, since several of the objects were stolen from the nightstands where they were asleep, just centimetres away, and no member of the family noticed the theft.’

The burglars gained entry through a kitchen window which had been smashed.

Nick later had a hazy flashback to being briefly awakened during the burglary before one of the criminals waved something in his face which knocked him out.

Nick, a company director, said: ‘I was in bed when I got this sense someone was watching me, so I opened my eyes.

Police inspect where the burglars cut through the fence before gassing the family and escaping with possessions worth tens of thousands of pounds

Police inspect where the burglars cut through the fence before gassing the family and escaping with possessions worth tens of thousands of pounds

The family woke the next day feeling unwell and headaches after the terrifying burglary

The family woke the next day feeling unwell and headaches after the terrifying burglary

Police believe the burglars managed to gain entry into the home via the kitchen window. Investigating officers found stacked chairs near the expected entry point and belongings

Police believe the burglars managed to gain entry into the home via the kitchen window. Investigating officers found stacked chairs near the expected entry point and belongings 

‘There was a figure stood at the end of the bed, and when he turned around I saw he was wearing a white mask with black rings for eyes

‘As soon as he saw I was awake, he reached over and waved something in front of my face, and that was the last thing I remember.’

With two weeks of their holiday left, the family moved into a hotel, before they all travelled back to the UK on September 12.

Hannah, a stay-at-home mum, had even wedged a chair up against the hotel room door because they were fearful of intruders.

Gail added: ‘We felt absolutely horrendous at the thought someone had been watching what we were doing and following our movements, and we couldn’t bear the thought of staying in the villa for any longer.

Mr and Mrs Shaw have owned the home, which boasts views such as this from their back garden, in holiday retreat Javea for 15 years but say they will never return after their ordeal

Mr and Mrs Shaw have owned the home, which boasts views such as this from their back garden, in holiday retreat Javea for 15 years but say they will never return after their ordeal

‘Even when we got to the hotel, we were too frightened to go anywhere and we just stayed in our rooms.

‘We’ve all really been struggling since coming home – we’ve all felt very anxious and we’re just so glad the baby was too young to remember.

‘We love Javea and we’ve been going to our villa there for more than 15 years, but after this, we’ll never go back.

‘What happened to us was truly like something you’d see in a horror movie.’

Similar burglaries have reportedly been committed against celebrities such as Jensen Button, in 2015, and Richard Hammond, in 2018 , while both were on holidays in France.