Thief Leaves Details Behind

It's not considered good practice to get caught if you are a thief. And one way of not getting caught is to make sure you don't leave too many clues about your identity behind after carrying out a heist.

It was a lesson learned the hard way this week by a 29-year-old Mönchengladbach thief. The hapless burglar -- who was trying to break into his neighbour's flat -- snapped his credit card in two while prying open a lock, inadvertently leaving behind his name and account details for police to collect later on.

"He tried to copy what he'd seen them do on television but the flat-owner woke up and the criminal ran away," a police spokesman said on Wednesday. "The victim called up and read us the details off the card."

"When we got round to the burglar's house the other half of his credit card was sitting on his kitchen table."