They've obviously monitored the area, this is a very specific robbery, they knew what they were after. It all adds up, this isn't a spur of the moment thing.
Fully agree. Wouldnt be supprised if they've monitored the house and knew that there was only a woman and child in the house (I assume that was the case). They knew they'd be able to force their way in and get the keys, and more than likely the front door wasnt even locked. If it had been locked I'd imagine they'd have just knocked and waited for an answer then forced their way in. It was a directed attack for the car they were after, becoming very popular these days which is why our Zed is in the garage most of the time.
Its stupid these days how careful you have to be. We live in a cul-de-sac which is very safe, never had any break ins during the 10yrs the houses have been built (and 5 we've been there) but just the other night I was working on MTB (we have 5 bikes between us in the garage) and some chav came wondering past - given this is a dead end road - and said something along the lines of "nice car and bikes mate, can I cut through here to the main road". I said no its a dead end and he had to head back the way he came. Now had this been 10yrs ago, I wouldnt have thought twice about it, but for some reason I still found myself reaching for a breaker bar just in case the little scroat decided he wanted to try and take the car/bikes