Man who ‘broke into female flat claiming to be staff’ identified as Edinburgh Uni employee

Last week, a widely shared social media post claimed that an unknown man had entered a University of Edinburgh owned postgraduate accommodation flat unannounced and without permission of the residents. However, the University of Edinburgh has since rendered the rumours as false.

The alleged intruder was said to have “opened the doors of the girls’ bedrooms in one of the all-female dormitory rooms at Buccleuch Place accommodation without any notification” and used “the excuse of checking things”.

The University of Edinburgh has since confirmed that the alleged intruder was actually member of staff who attended the accommodation to “deal with a power outage in the kitchen”.

The post, originally shared on the Buccleuch Place and Ascham Court Facebook group by a concerned resident, was shared widely on Reddit.

A screenshot of the Facebook post was shared, where a concerned student asked others in a group the accommodation if they had heard about a man allegedly dressed in an Edinburgh University staff uniform. The student explained how the man had allegedly entered an all-female dormitory at the Buccleuch Place accommodation in the early hours of the morning.

According to this student, the man was allegedly seen opening bedroom doors in the dorm and when questioned about his presence, claimed to be checking for maintenance issues. As per the comments on the post, residents were unaware of any maintenance requests as there had been no email confirmation.

A user on Reddit then reposted screenshots of the Facebook post with some additional details, adding that they were “pissed” at the situation. The user also criticised the University of Edinburgh, saying “The school isn’t telling us anything”.

The Reddit poster also asked for the post to be shared online as they “don’t even know if this “staff member” still has access to flats”.

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Many comments called for police action to be taken, with one saying “This is a matter for the police, not the university”.

The University of Edinburgh since confirmed that the individual in the halls was a staff member who attended the accommodation to “fix a power outage in the kitchen”. It explained that a maintenance call was placed by a resident and that the staff member attended “in uniform and had ID”.

However, whilst the resident who requested the maintenance was notified, other students in the flat were not aware of the request and therefore “were not expecting someone to be in their accommodation.”.

Explaining the importance of safety in it’s accommodation buildings, the University of Edinburgh said: “The security of our students is our utmost priority and we want to ensure all of our students feel safe in our university accommodation”.

Both the university and a member of the ResLife team at the university said that the situation is being investigated further.

The university also explained that affected students were spoken to: “Our Accommodation Team has since met with the affected students about this and has offered further meetings with anyone else in accommodation who may have concerns.”.

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Featured image via Google Maps