The Traitors star Paul Gorton reveals thieves stole thousands of pounds and irreplaceable sentimental gifts from his home – minutes after he shared holiday photos online

The Traitors star Paul Gorton has revealed he’s thousands of pounds out of pocket after being burgled. 

Earlier this month, the reality star was on holiday with partner Kate Waldron and their sons Charlie and Cooper in Mallorca, but was left devastated upon his return when he learnt their house had been ransacked by thieves. 

Paul, who found fame as a Traitor on season two of the BBC show, and Kate, a content creator, boast more than 200,000 Instagram followers between them. 

They have now deduced from police evidence that their house was broken into a mere 20 minutes after they posted in real time from their holiday, with Paul wanting to share his story to warn others.  

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Paul shared: ‘We were sitting by the pool having a drink and I posted it on my Instagram, not realising that minutes later someone would jump over my fence and smash the back door.

‘They were robbing us as simultaneously me and Kate are actually having a nice evening.’ 

Recalling the moment they realised they’d been robbed, Paul shared: ‘We were super delayed on our flight getting back home, we got back around 6 o’clock, so it felt like a full day of travel with the kids and we were all exhausted. 

‘Charlie started school the next day and all we wanted to do was have a Chinese, watch a bit of telly, do bath time and go to bed. 

‘And as we walked through our hallway and into the kitchen, we looked at the bifold back door, which was closed, and there was no handle or lock.

‘We knew that we’d been robbed at that point, so I opened my office door and my office was just completely ransacked.’

The biggest blow to Paul, however, was that they’d got hold of his ‘pride and joy’, his Specialized bicycle that was worth roughly £5,000. 

Having checked upstairs they then realised thieves had also ransacked their bedroom, with Paul noting: ‘The boys’ bedroom was absolutely fine, and inside our wardrobe it was really weird that all Kate’s stuff, was absolutely fine and relatively untouched.

‘But all my wardrobe space was just ransacked so they were obviously looking for something and then they’ve left with my bike.’

Paul explained that they were worried their eldest son Charlie, four, would be spooked by the police arriving, yet thankfully he took it all in his stride.    

‘When CSI came he was handing them things and saying what to take a picture of,’ Paul laughed. ‘He like right on their shoulders, just fascinated by the whole experience.’ 

Earlier this month, Paul was on holiday with partner Kate Waldron and their sons Charlie and Cooper, but was left devastated upon his return when he learnt his house had been ransacked 

Yet while Paul and Kate were pleased the robbery had caused minimal disruption to their children, they were dealt another blow when they realised they’d found Kate’s jewellery box. 

‘It was costume jewelry, so it was only a couple hundred pounds worth of jewellery, but it did have Kate’s grandmother’s ring in there, it’s super sentimental,’ Paul explained.

‘Completely worthless but worth everything to Kate, and it’s now gone, I presume it’s just in a bin.’

Paul was also left spooked by not knowing if the robbers had taken everything they planned. 

He explained: ‘It‘s a huge loss, from a sentimental perspective, from a monetary perspective, but nothing was smashed in our house. 

‘The police were saying a lot of robbers have tunnel vision, so they come for particular items, and like they left my like computer, they left phones and electrical stuff and tellies – but they must have had a target in mind.

‘Everything I post now, I’m just more conscious of how am I posting it and how vulnerable is my house. 

‘Moving forward, the house is going to be lit up, if our broadband goes down, there’s a backup connection, all these things you put in place to be more difficult to rob.’

Ironically, Paul had been looking into getting contents insurance the night before they went away, but ended up getting distracted and not going through with it – a move that has now left him thousands out of pocket from the robbery. 

Paul, who found fame as a Traitor on season two of the BBC show (pictured) and Kate, a content creator, boast more than 200,000 Instagram followers between them

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Now Paul has partnered with Compare The Market, who commissioned The Online Safety Experiment to highlight the importance of taking steps to help protect your home while you’re away.

 To explore how social media posting habits may affect home security, they surveyed 3,000 UK adults about their social media habits while travelling, while a Private Investigator investigated how quickly publicly available information could be used to identify home addresses and determine whether properties were unoccupied.

‘We’ve had a really stern warning,’ Paul mused. ‘It’s amazing that Compare the Market can use my story to help people, so hopefully what happened to me doesn’t happen to them.

‘Hopefully this hits home because I think sadly it takes a painful story for people to action certain behaviours. 

‘So that’s the goal from this campaign, if people can get contents insurance and make their home safer because of my story then it was almost worth getting robbed in the first place.’ 

Among the most alarming statistics from Compare The Market’s Online Safety Experiment is that seven out of nine home addresses could be identified using publicly available information; the fastest address was uncovered in just 15 minutes; and four of the nine volunteers had private Instagram accounts. 

To find out more about The Online Safety Experiment, visit www.comparethemarket.com/home-insurance/the-online-safety-experiment