Elderly Eltham man waits for police for 30 minutes as drug affected intruder raids his home

The son of an elderly man says his father had to make several desperate phone calls to authorities after a drug-affected intruder got into his home.

Andrew Gillard’s 85-year-old dad Bryan was confronted by a man who ‘appeared deranged’ and affected by drugs on Monday morning at his Eltham home.

He told Neil Mitchell his father waited for nearly half an hour for police to turn up and hid in his bedroom.

‘The main reason why we’ve reached out, we don’t blame anyone at Victoria Police directly but it’s obviously a resourcing issue,’ he said.

‘It’s sort of everyone’s worst nightmare to have someone in their home.

‘And you feel safe, you think you can call the police and they’ll rock up within a few minutes.

‘Close to half an hour is not acceptable.’

In an article published in the Herald Sun today, it was reported that the police only received a report of a man loitering suspiciously in the area.

Neil Mitchell said it was ‘inadequate’ that the police divisional van wasn’t available to be sent out until 9am.