BURGLAR CAUGHT HANGING AROUND

SUSPENDED SENTENCE

As a burglar, John Pearce thinks nothing of turning his victims' homes upside down.

But this time it was the house that turned him the wrong way up.

Attempting a daylight raid, the 32-year-old somehow got his foot caught after smashing his way through the front window of a Victorian terrace home at 6pm.

Unable to free himself, Pearce was left hanging upside down in the window frame for more than an hour as a crowd of 30 neighbours and passers-by gathered to ridicule him in Dartford, Kent.

Britain's worst burglar: John Pearce had got his foot caught after smashing his way through the glass

When owner Paul Ives arrived home from work, Pearce, who was armed with a hammer, tried to claim that he had spotted someone else trying to raid the house and had selflessly attempted to catch the scoundrel, getting stuck in the process.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Ives didn't believe his story and declined to set him free.

Police and paramedics arrived on the scene and eventually managed to release Pearce's shoe and haul him down.

It is believed that the lace in one of his trainers became caught in the window frame as he tried to clamber through.

He was arrested, handcuffed and taken to the police station.

Facing Dartford magistrates the following day, he admitted burglary with intent to steal and will be sentenced on September 5.

Mr Ives, 44, an air conditioning engineer who recently moved into the house, said: 'The man must be the world's dumbest thief.

'He was hanging upside down. His body was inside the house and he was stuck in the window with his foot outside.

'The more he struggled, the more he got jammed. When I got home, he still had the hammer in his hand which he had used to smash the main window and get some leverage.

'He was screaming to get him down and we were all saying, "I don't think so".

'He kept saying, "I haven't done anything. I was stopping the burglars".'

(Fom the Daily mail)