The windows do lock from inside yes, they are designed to click lock when you close them, however depending on the age of the property and windoes this can often fail, I have 3 at the moment that dont click lock as they seize over time, most will also have a key lock that locks the 2 panes together to stop one from sliding. The keys can be lost over time or some holiday lets, they will actually remove the keys so they dont go missing. The windows are not secure like those in UK and that is why most people spend extra to get metal grilles installed outside of the windows.
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Burglars will always target the properties that don't have grilles and the fact that the apartment was ground floor made it even more of a target. I don't believe someone climbed in the window but they certainly could have climbed out if they needed to in a hurry.
Edited to add. You can raise my persianas from outside about 30cm, enough to look into a bedroom from outside.
many thanks
so in this case, for this suspect that has experience of burglary,
option 1, entering via the road/carparkside window, it certainly looks like a pretty secluded entry point. away from the road, behind a small [empty?] car park, last window in an alley that is not a thoroughfare, and the alley is slightly below ground level.
- he could first lift the shutter a little way to check if the bedroom was quiet, emtpy/free from adults. and also check if the window was unlocked, or could be opened via the lock being weak or faulty.
the state of the lock could be checked at any time prior to the break in. the current suspect was said to have planned the separate rape crime 'in detail'.
option 2, if entry via the window was not possible, would be to enter via the poolside/tapas side sliding door, especially if he had seen parent entering this way [21:05] or oldfield entering this way [21:30].
watching whether the sliding door was consistently left open could also have been observed during the week.
and burglar could then leave via either option.
parents eating at the same time/same place
30 minute gaps between checks
plus
no street cctv
no dna database
suspect had access to two getaway vehicles
suspect knows the area well
seems like there were plenty of obvious points of interest for a burglar.