Residents of an Aberdeenshire sheltered housing complex have been left “terrified” by a mystery culprit banging on their doors in the middle of the night.
What started out as something relatively infrequent has turned into a near nightly occurrence for those living at Blackhills Court, Westhill.
But council investigators have found nothing out of the ordinary and the desperate residents are now calling for more staff and better CCTV to finally catch the terrorist in the act.
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Ken Campbell began logging the incidents in his diary at the start of the year, noting that his doorbell was rung at around 1.30am on January 30 and that someone tried to open his door at a similar time on February 8.
Several other late night occurrences were noted throughout the following months before a string of three in September and four in October, including one where someone lifted the flap to his letterbox.
He is far from the only one with issues about this.
Mr Campbell noted that four of his neighbours, including a 97-year-old, are also being plagued by attempts to enter their flats.
“For some of these people it can be really frightening,” he said.
“The council looked at the CCTV camera but said nothing was shown up.
“I’ve also contacted the police but they said there’s nothing they can do about it.”
After Mr Campbell first raised his concerns in March, one of the council’s housing officers wrote to all of the Blackhills Court tenants asking for information.
Following several meetings organised by residents to discuss the matter, staff installed CCTV at the end of September.
This was initially focused on the property’s front door before it was moved to a downstairs lobby and now an upstairs corridor.
But in a letter handed out last week, residents were told that “nothing untoward” has been seen in the footage.
They have also been reassured that door entry codes have been changed and additional responders are on call to deal with any future emergencies.
Mr Campbell is hopeful that an additional temporary CCTV system which has been set up will finally yield some answers.
He said: “They give off the impression that we’re making it all up.
“But we have five people being affected by this – there is something going on.”