Thief caught on camera puts his hand up

Seeing a photo of himself on the front page of yesterday's Taranaki Daily News was enough to make a security camera thief turn himself in.

Ironically, the photo published was taken from footage caught by the very same camera the 29-year-old New Plymouth man had stolen.

He handed himself, and the camera, in at the New Plymouth police station yesterday afternoon after seeing his photo on the front page, Constable Craig O'Doherty said.

He told police he was angry at having been locked in the Centre City car park when he went to get his car last Thursday night.

In an attempt to free his trapped vehicle, he broke into the third-level booth and while in there ripped out the security camera, without knowing its footage had already gone into the system's hard-drive.

He will appear in the New Plymouth District Court today charged with burglary.

- © Fairfax NZ News