Very cool story - I saw it on the BBC website yesterday. I've been using Dorgem for a while to make films of my room whilst I'm out at work, as the motion detection feature will capture things like shadows passing as the sun's position in the sky changes and so on. Compressed into MPG movies these make for fun time-lapse studies of my living space, but it's excellent to think that if I did FTP them off my computer I could have evidence of anyone who broke into the room, even if they took the PC (though how attractive a Pentium II which has been partially spraypainted canary yellow is, I'm unsure). In addition to a webcam I've also experimented with a home security camera from Homebase - once this is rigged up to the PC with a video capture device it can be left outside, as it has a super long lead and is both waterproof and provides its own infra-red source. I've been using that to monitor my bird feeder and hope to try it on the frogs in the pond at night when the weather gets better.

Dear Duncan, I was impressed with your story. Hopefully, your experience and capture of the thief that broke into your flat will be a great lesson for all people concerned about home evasions and burglaries. Thanks for the insight on how to "catch a thief." Johnny Israel City Room Press