Cricketer James Vince says his family lives in fear after home attack

By Natasha Anderson

02:04 17 Jul 2024, updated 02:22 17 Jul 2024

• Mr Vince’s home near Southampton was vandalised on April 15 and May 11 

England cricket ace James Vince says his family are living in fear after their home was attacked twice in the dead of night. 

The Hampshire captain’s Southampton area home and two cars were first vandalised in April around 3am, causing his wife Amy and two young children to wake up to blaring alarms and the sound of breaking glass.

The family relocated while the home underwent repairs for more than a month, however the property was attack again just one week after the repairs were finished and the Vinces returned home, he told The Telegraph.

Police have not yet found a motive for the attacks, but Mr Vince, 33, suspects it is a case of mistaken identity.

The family ‘desperately want this to stop’ and have made an appeal for anyone with information to come forward to police, with the cricket player saying: ‘We need to find out what is going on and get our lives back to normal.’

The England ace recalled how during the first attack on April 15, he ‘woke suddenly to a load of smashing and alarms going off’.

He said that he had ‘no idea’ what was happening during the ‘very unnerving’ attack.

‘We rushed straight to get the kids to make sure they were safe. They were very shaken up,’ he told the newspaper, adding that by the time they contacted police the vandal had already fled.

He says a neighbour saw a car drive away from the scene. 

The family’s home was attacked a second time on May 11 around midnight by a vandal throwing bricks.

CCTV footage of the attack shows a hooded vandal throwing objects through the windows of the property. 

Mr Vince, who was still awake at the time, said: ‘I was able to get downstairs quite quickly and had more of a sense of what was going on.’

He said the attack ‘wasn’t such a surprise’ because it had happened just a month before. The family also ‘know a bit more’ about the second attack because their newly installed security cameras caught the suspect in the act.

Mr Vince noted that the suspect ‘left quickly’ but he thinks that is because they ‘saw the activity in the house’. 

The family have bolstered their security detail and hired local crime experts to monitor the home, but Mr Vince says he still fears they could be attacked again. 

‘We don’t want to risk the same thing happening again. It’s not fair for my wife or children to have to go through it again,’ he said. 

‘Something like this is hugely disruptive in our lives, especially for our children, who have understandably been affected and unsettled by the situation.’

He added that he is ‘amazed’ and ‘extremely proud’ of how his children have responded to the situation and says the family appreciates the ‘great support’ they have received locally and from within the cricket community. 

Mr Vince has also urged anyone with information or who ‘sees anything in the footage of the attack that could lead to anything’ to contact Hampshire police.

MailOnline has approached the force for comment.