A mother was left gobsmacked after discovering a stranger had pitched a tent in her front garden overnight – and was munching a family-sized strawberry gateaux inside.
Erika White was left in disbelief when her son spotted the makeshift home on the lawn of her end-of-terrace home at 6.35am.
The 38-year-old, from Dartford, Kent, confronted the trespasser – and claimed he ignored her polite request to move out of her front garden.
The cheeky camper finally decided to leave after the fuming finance analyst threatened to call the police if he continued to refuse.
Baffled Erika, who lives with her seven-year-old daughter and sons, 14 and eight, said: ‘It was the absolute audacity of it. It’s so brazen.’
Erika White was left in disbelief when her son spotted the makeshift home on the lawn of her end-of-terrace urban home at 6.35am.
The fuming mother-of-three from Dartford, Kent, had to confront the man twice before he finally packed up his tent and left
She added: ‘My littlest boy was looking out the window to see what the weather as like and he said to me ‘mummy, there’s a tent outside’.
‘It literally took up the whole front garden. I went out. I didn’t want to be aggressive.
‘He looked at me. I said “excuse me – do you realise you’re in my front garden in a tent? Could you move yourself please?”.’
An incredulous Erika added that when she unzipped the tent she could see he had made himself comfortable and had a family-sized strawberry gateaux inside with him.
Erika’s Ring doorbell camera hadn’t picked up any activity, leading her to believe the trespasser had sneakily pitched his temporary abode nearby and moved it onto her property under cover of darkness.
She claimed she had heard noises at about 5am but dismissed it as her tumble dryer going off.
The unwanted camper finally left after Erika (pictured) threatened to call the police
The mother-of-three confronted her unwanted garden guest at 6.35am – but when he hadn’t left she went out again at 6.50am. He finally moved on around 7.05am.
‘I told him “if you don’t go I’m going to have to call the police”,’ she added.
Erika speculated he could be a worker at a nearby fruit picking farm as many commute along the road, and he did not speak English as a first language.
She added: ‘He was presentable and didn’t seem homeless, which made it even more confusing.”