Mum wrestled intruder after he crept into hotel room she shared with young son

A British mum on holiday with her young son wrestled an intruder after he snuck into her hotel room in the middle of the night.

Rachel Brown was dozing at the five-star Epic Sana Algarve hotel in Vilamoura, Portugal when the man crept through her unlocked balcony doors and into the first floor suite.

The 42-year-old, whose seven-year-old son Jaxon was in the same room, sprung into action, hitting and pushing the man back out onto the balcony.

The intruder, who managed to grab Rachel’s Apple watch from her arm during the wrestle, then fled by climbing over two neighbouring balconies before jumping around 13ft to the ground below.

The man has not been caught and wasn’t seen on CCTV, though the watch was found in some nearby bushes and returned to Rachel.

Having now returned to the UK after her week-long holiday, the managing director is sharing the frightening experience in the hope it will remind other holidaymakers to lock their balcony doors.

Rachel, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, said she shut the balcony door but did not lock it before the man appeared at around 10.20pm on July 22.

She noticed the curtains twitch and initially thoughta bird had flown in but ‘then a man appeared out of the curtains’.

‘It was terrifying,’ the single mum recalled. ‘I had a young child in the room, so my instinct was to get that person out the room.

She said she shouted ‘f**k off’ at him and ‘started pushing him and hitting him until he backed out of the room onto the balcony’.

She then shouted for help.

‘After he ran off, I was so scared for the rest of the night that I blocked my door with a sun lounger.’

Rachel said she had assumed they would be safe because the suite was pretty high up and they had a private balcony.

She said the intruder was in his mid-twenties, about 5ft 8in and was tanned with curly dark hair.

Security were sent to her room after the incident but as she and her son had to fly back to the UK that morning she wasn’t able to report the crime to local police at the time.

She has, however, emailed the Guardia Civil since, detailing what happened and also made a complaint to the hotel as she claimed they failed to call police on the night.

She has asked for compensation from the hotel as she feels the incident ‘ruined the holiday’ but the hotel manager has declined her request.

Rachel said her son is ‘traumatised’ as his bedroom at home also has a balcony.

‘Now I’m home my son makes me go into every room and onto the balcony before he can go in,’ she said.

‘I’ve been more cautious at home with making sure all the doors are fully locked and the alarms set.

‘But I’m disappointed with how the hotel has handled it – it could happen again to someone else.’

Rachel has offered advice to others who find themselves facing an intruder.

She said: ‘If you have to get someone out the room, be loud, and get people’s attention.

‘If you’re on the balcony, if you’re loud, they will be more focused on trying to escape than re-enter the room, or harm you.’

The general manager of Epic Sana Algarve, André Romeiro, said: ‘We confirm that Mrs Brown was a guest at our hotel and an incident occurred on July 22, 2024, of an attempted intrusion by a stranger into the client’s room, through the balcony, which was opened at that time. No damage resulted from that attempt.

‘Immediately after becoming aware of the situation, the hotel activated the internal security procedures, namely mobilising the security guard to inspect the property in search of the suspect and checking the video surveillance cameras.

‘The hotel also filed a complaint with the police authorities and handed over the video surveillance images for this purpose.

‘Our immediate concern was to assist Mrs Brown and guarantee her and her son’s safety. In fact, the following day I personally expressed Mrs Brown my deep regret at what happened and offered to accompany her to the police station to file the criminal complaint as offended, but she declined, since it was her last day.’

André said that when the hotel reported the incident to hotel to police it provided them with Rachel’s contact details so that she could be contacted by the force if needed.

He added: ‘After her departure, Mrs Brown contacted the hotel by email, requesting a monetary compensation for the traumatic experience.

‘Since we consider that there is no basis for the payment of any compensation by the hotel and the hotel does not follow that type of practice, we declined its payment.’

André said they covered Rachel and her son’s airport transfer on the last day.

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