A HAPLESS burglar who knocked over a tin of white paint during a break-in left police with a clear line of inquiry – painted footsteps leading all the way to his home.

Officers followed the printed marks and arrested Andrew Mark Connor at Vincent Street, Easington Colliery, County Durham.

Peterlee magistrates were told that police responded to a report of a break-in at a second-hand shop in Easington Colliery, at the junction of Seaside Lane and Vincent Street.

A small number of items had been stolen from the premises, but police had one potential - and very obvious - lead.

During the break-in the intruder had knocked over a tin of white paint and had unwittingly left a trail of footprint impressions on the pavement outside the shop.

The first officer on the scene followed the trail down Vincent Street to a house, when he found the stolen property in the rear yard.

After checking the suspect’s footwear the 27-year-old occupant was then arrested for burglary, less than 30 minutes from the time of the first call to police.

When he appeared before magistrates last week he pleaded guilty to burglary and was handed a community rehabilitation order and instructed to pay £100 compensation to the owners.

Detective Constable Darren Cresswell said: “Some offences of burglary are more challenging to solve than others, in this case the offender really put his foot in it and left some very obvious clues.

“His house was only a short distance from the shop and the footwear impressions led us easily to where he had hidden the stolen property.”

It is not the first time burglars have made such an elementary mistake. In February 2009 a burglary provided police officers with clear cut clues when they followed a suspected burglar's footprints in the snow all the way from the scene of the crime to his home.

Police alerted to a break-in at a village club in Burnhope, near Lanchester, County Durham, tracked the suspect for several hundred yards along a path before they arrested him.