For nearly eight years, James Vince and his little family have resided in the same home in a quaint community east of Southampton, close to Hampshire’s administrative center. He’s never experienced any problems.
That was before an unexpected attack on his home and vehicles three months ago startled Vince, his wife, and their two small children in the middle of the night to the sound of glass breaking and sirens going out.
During the nearly month-long process of having the damage repaired, the family relocated. However, a week after the repairs were finished and they were back on the scene, a same attack happened again.
The former batsman for England is still utterly baffled as to what is happening. He and his wife Amy have had some “really painful chats,” as they are adamant that they have nothing to do with the problem. They made instant contact with the police, who have since begun an investigation. After reviewing phone and bank data, they have not discovered anything out of the ordinary that would explain the scenario.
On June 6, 2019, in Cardiff, Wales, James Vince of England watches an England Nets session at Cardiff Wales Stadium.
For England, James Vince has participated in 13 Tests and 25 ODIs. CREDIT: Alex Davidson/Getty Images
Hampshire, the Professional Cricketers’ Association, and the England and Wales Cricket Board have all backed Vince and engaged intelligence agencies to conduct in-depth investigations. Since nothing has turned up in those searches either, there is no clear reason for suspicion other than that the attackers are misidentifying someone else and that this is a case of mistaken identity. The two incidents have been completely separate from one another, and the perpetrators have not communicated or revealed their motivation.
Vince tells Telegraph Sport, “Every expert we’ve spoken to says it looks like a money issue, unpaid bills or whatever.” “We know we have never been involved in anything like this, and we have nothing to conceal. We just want this to stop so bad.
Vince, who represented England in 13 Test matches and 42 white-ball internationals and was a member of the team that won the World Cup in 2019, is a highly private individual who has looked into every possible solution before coming up with it. However, while they frantically look for further information, the family feels as though they have no other option.
James Vince of England gets caught out
James Vince was a member of the England team that won the Cricket World Cup in 2019. CREDIT: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters
“Please get in touch with us or the Hampshire Police if you have any information or see anything in the attack video that might be of interest. The 33-year-old claims, “It might be the last bit of knowledge we need to figure out what’s going on and get our lives back to normal.”
“We went right to the children.”
The two assaults have been nearly indistinguishable. The first happened on a Monday morning at around three in the morning during the second week of April.
Vince recalls, “My wife and I woke up to a lot of shattering and alarms going off.” “We hurried to make sure the kids, who are three and seven years old, were secure because we had no idea what was going on and it was obviously very scary.” They were obviously rather agitated. They had left by the time we took action and called the police, and we had not seen them. A neighbor observed a car leave.
“It appears that the first time they utilized a metal bar of some sort. Nearly all of the glass on the two automobiles in the driveway and the windows at the front of the house were smashed in.
The Vinces lived elsewhere, but they returned home with some fear when the damage to the cars and house was repaired, security cameras and alarms installed, only to have another attack happen a few days later. Strangely, both attacks took place at home games for Hampshire.
Vince claims, “I was actually still awake upstairs for the second one.” As a result, I was able to descend the stairs with greater speed and awareness of the situation. It was also obviously not that surprising, given it had happened previously. I believe they swiftly departed after noticing the commotion inside the house.
“They used bricks this time, and the damage wasn’t as severe. Still, it was similar, with damaged windows in the house and cars. We remained awake due to attending a dinner celebrating my teammate Chris Wood’s ground-level benefit year. It happened about midnight, and we arrived home at about 11.30p.m. Thanks to video footage from the new security cameras, we have a little more information about this one.
The video shows a man carrying a light and potentially recording himself as he passes bricks over the outer wall to another man. The man with the torch is wearing a hoodie with the Gym King logo on the back, which may reveal his identify. He also has his face covered. Before running away, he hurls the bricks at the house’s windows and then the cars.
Vince’s family hired local criminal and security specialists to monitor the property after the second attack, strengthening their security measures even further, but a third attack remains a possibility.
He states, “We don’t want to take a chance on the same event happening again.” “My wife and kids shouldn’t have to endure it one more.
It goes without saying that a circumstance like this severely disrupts our lives, especially those of our children, who have obviously been impacted and uneasy. Having said that, I’m astonished and incredibly proud of the way they handled it. Both from the cricket community and locally, we have gotten a lot of support. Additionally, we hired private security guards, who are promising in that they have uncovered some important information. But this has to end, so anything more that anyone knows would be wonderful.
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