Boulder smashes through Leeds students’ kitchen window in ‘aggressive and unprovoked attack’

A boulder has been smashed through the kitchen window of a group of Leeds students in what they’ve called an “aggressive” and “unprovoked” attack.

The students, who live on Brudenell Mount in Hyde Park, were woken up to the sound of a boulder smashing through their window at approximately 6am on Monday 10th February.

Cleo, 22, a third-year student at the University of Leeds, told The Leeds Tab the attack was unprovoked.

The student has since travelled home due to fearing for her safety living in the house, which she shares with four other female students.

She said: “We hadn’t done anything to provoke this sort of response.

“In my mind you only get attacked like this if you’re vulnerable and we don’t consider ourselves as vulnerable.

“We don’t have anyone that hates us to this extent because this is such an aggressive act of violence.”

via Facebook

The house had been having a “chilled, all girls” birthday party the night of the incident. Music had been playing till around 5:30am, which Cleo said she was aware was “quite late”.

“We’d said if anyone would knock on the door and complain we’d obviously turn it down – that was not an issue,” she added.

Cleo had gone to bed earlier than her housemates, at around 3am, in the attic bedroom of the house. Two of her housemates stayed up until the end of the party, which finished a couple of hours later.

Cleo said she was “fast asleep” when two of her housemates woke her up to explain what had happened, insisting that she called the police. Unlike Cleo, the other women, who were closer to the ground floor, had woken up to the sound of the window smashing.

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After contacting the police and the property’s letting agents, who were both “really lovely and super proactive”, Cleo went downstairs to assess the damage herself.

She said: “Honestly I was shocked, I didn’t even realise but it wasn’t even a rock – it was literally a boulder. It was insane.

“I tried to pick it up and it had to be at least 30 or 40 kilos. It was insanely heavy. It must have taken two people.

“Our window is on the ground floor, yes, but it’s elevated at least a metre or a metre and a half above the ground. Whoever did it must have had to swing it.”

Cleo added: “The momentum was insane because it had hit the back door of the kitchen, which is at least three metres away – it was just crazy.”

The only measure Cleo could think to take was to get pieces of cardboard and tape them across the window.

via Facebook

The students had not seen or heard anything that night to arouse suspicion.

A neighbour Cleo contacted cited seeing his floodlights “flashing on and off” during the night, as though someone had been walking up and down.

When Cleo told the police this, they explained the person, or people, “were probably scouting out which house to do it to [throw the boulder], which is why they were going back and forth.”

Cleo had been worried the police would be “quick to judge” because they were a group of students who had been partying: “I thought they’d put the blame on us”.

But Cleo explained that, upon arrival, the police were “really reassuring” and stayed for a couple of hours before walking around to talk to neighbours.

Reflecting on the potential motives of the perpetrators, Cleo expressed frustration at how “bored” she felt they must be: “Honestly, how bored do you have to be to do something like that?”

She continued: “You’re meant to feel comfortable and safe in your own home and for someone to have done such an aggressive, unprovoked act towards it is really intimidating and makes us feel really anxious.”

“No one should ever feel uncomfortable in their own home. God forbid if anyone was stood there. It is just so pathetic and such a waste of police resources. It shouldn’t be something they have to deal with,” she added.

via Facebook

A graduate, Henry, told The Leeds Tab there had been a spate of similar crimes whilst he had been studying in Leeds. He had fallen victim himself, and had neighbours whose homes had been damaged too.

A Leeds College of Music student between 2017 and 2020, Henry was in his final year when someone smashed a brick through the window of his student house in Hyde Park.

At around 2am, the students heard a loud “boom” four or five times in quick succession. Wondering what the noise could be, Henry’s housemate went to the window because they could see an object bouncing off it.

He said: “When my housemate looked down, there was this guy with a mask on and he was literally about to throw this brick again at the window.

“So my mate moved out the way, and thankfully he did, because this was maybe the seventh attempt. The window finally broke on the seventh time.”

The perpetrator ran away once the window smashed.

Following the incident, Henry said “everyone was going crazy” in the house and the police were soon contacted.

Another time Henry recalled a similar incident occurring, he was living in Woodhouse and the victims were his neighbours.

He said: “She [the neighbour] showed me the window and it was completely smashed through, and it wasn’t just hers, it was also the opposite end neighbours as well.

“So I think two or three windows got smashed and when the police came to investigate, they thought that it’s just someone doing it for fun, or just because they’re drunk.

“The police don’t think it’s targeted because they threw a brick through two or three houses randomly.”

Henry added: “That’s why I’m up in West Park now: No worries, it’s quiet, there’s no bullshit up here.”

West Yorkshire Police has not yet responded to a request for comment. 

Featured image via Facebook