Mother-of-two claims her £2,500 Benidorm holiday hotel room was raided by teenage thugs
A mother-of-two has revealed details of the horrific moment teenage thugs raided the expensive Benidorm hotel room she was holidaying in with her young family.
Becca Farley, 27, was staying in the Spanish tourist hotspot with her partner, six-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter when she caught strangers in her room.
The family, from Eastleigh, Hampshire, had paid £2,500 for their week-long stay.
On the last night, with signs around the hotel warning of a power cut, Ms Farley headed to the room to charge their phones before their flight home.
Two teenagers then entered the lift with her and pressed the button for the same floor her room was on.
'I honestly didn't think anything of it because there's five rooms per floor so I just assumed they were going to one of them,' she said.
However, when the lift doors opened the thugs walked out in front of her and straight into her room, which had the door wedged open by a shoe.
Ms Farley said: 'I thought oh s**t I have obviously got off on the wrong floor, what a palaver I'm going to have to wait for the lift again. But it was the right floor. It happened all quite quickly and they just strolled straight in.'
She bravely followed the boys into the room, which she said in hindsight she shouldn't have done due to 'horror stories' of others doing the same and it then turning sour.
'But I just didn't really think and went straight into the room and shouted "what are you doing in my room?",' she added.
When one of the intruders shouted at her in Spanish, Ms Farley repeatedly screamed: 'Get the f**k out' until they ran off.
But, the brazen pair returned minutes later and started banging on the door while she stayed locked inside in an 'absolutely petrified' state.
She said: 'I know it sounds silly and people have said you should have done this, you should have locked them in the room, you should have decked them but at that moment I think it was just that invasion of privacy.
'This is supposed to be your safe place when you are away, you're away from home, we don't travel all that often so we were really shaken.'
Ms Farley said she was unable to get any sleep that night because she was 'flinching at every noise'.
She added that if the raid had happened earlier on in the week, she and her partner would have cut their stay short and flown home.
The terrified mother reported the incident to hotel security, when she discovered another family had experienced a similar break-in and had passports, watches and other valuables stolen.
Now, she's warning other tourists planning on visiting Spain: 'I would advise just to be alert.
'A lot of people have said we were scaremongering people not to go away, not at all.
'We will certainly go on holiday again, but I think it's just having that awareness that if you are a lone woman, please be careful.
'I'm very lucky that I'm OK but I think it's just a case of having your wits about you a bit more.
'When you go on holiday you tend to relax and become a little bit naive to these situations.'
She also recommends locking valuables in suitcases with padlocks.
'Obviously keep your valuables safe. I know some people say don't use the safes, we personally lock all of ours and padlock them in our suitcases.
'I think it's just about knowing not to get comfortable in somewhere you've never been before.'
Although she plans to continue travelling, Becca said she'll now take extra precautions.
'I'm considering getting a webcam that you can put in your room next time we go away. I will carry on locking my stuff away. I would never take the kids away on my own.
'I certainly wouldn't have cleaners in my room ever again, not to say it definitely was them but they have access to your room.
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