Daryl Kennedy made his first robbery at the young age of 9 after his father decided to teach him the ropes of the 'family business,' and that is stealing and robbing other people's homes. However, after having a lucrative job and traveling around the world stealing people's houses, Daryl says he is a changed man now and wants to mend his ways by never going down the path of stealing ever again.
advertisement
Daryl Kennedy, 58, is a former cat burglar who has broken into more than 20,000 homes. Changing life direction, the man is now here to share tips on how to make your house burglar-proof from thieves.
Daryl made his first robbery at the age of 9, following in his father's footsteps who also had a lifelong criminal career. His father started to take him out on raids when he was just a little boy to teach him the ropes of 'family business.'
His career involved traveling around the world on supposed 'business trips,' including a five-year stay in Australia during which he targeted wealthy homes and stole jewelry from the rich & famous.
Getty Images
At the peak of his career, Daryl was seen robbing 15 homes in a day, and with his notorious reputation in the underworld, he was even able to make his own gang based on professional thieves.
But despite robbing houses from all over the world, the Manchester-born crook claims he only focused on the homes of the wealthy and powerful and that he 'never stole from working class people'.
Alamy
advertisement
Despite being a pro in his work, Daryl got caught in 2014 and served 5 years in prison for a string of 140 high-value robberies in Cheshire, and after getting released in 2019 made the decision to never go down this path ever again.
Now, Daryl works for the other side and wants to use his knowledge and skill to help people defend themselves from robbers and thieves.
Credit: Cavendish Press
His first tip is to use CCTV not only in your own home but to partner up with neighbours and watch each other's properties too.
Also, if you have CCTV only in your own home then a burglar can break in and steal the hard drive, leaving you with nothing.
However, if the whole neighborhood has the footage, then it will be safe because the thief cannot obviously remove footage from the whole neighborhood.
He said: "Burglars know to look out and dodge CCTV in your own home, but don't think to check for neighbours' CCTV."
Getty Images
His second tip is to invest in door bolts for the living room and kitchen, as burglars when manage to break into either of these rooms will be locked inside and they would have no option but to run away instead of risking the chance of getting caught.
His final tip is quite different. Hide your valuables inside a beanbag, as that’s the one place that a burglar would never think to look.
Credit: Cavendish Press
It's even safer if you have children and can put the bean bag in their room. Daryl said: "The first thing I would do after breaking into a house is go to the master bedroom."
"It's the first thing any burglar thinks of – it's where all the valuables are."
"They don't want kids' clothes, and they especially don't want children waking up, so they'll never go for the kids' bedroom."
Getty Images
advertisement
Despite living through a lucrative career of stealing, Daryl says he has deep regrets over his life choices and that he has changed his ways after meeting some of his victims during a rehab program in prison.
"When I met my victims, I realised I stole things which had been passed down for generations."
"It was traumatic for me and I see now that burglary is a horrible thing."
"I'm a changed person now, and I want to use what I know to eradicate burglary."
Getty Images