A musician has taken on a new role as a detective in a bid to track down his stolen £400 computer.

Tom Clarke’s Apple iPad has transmitted photographs of its location back to its owner, who now hopes they will jog someone’s memory and help him be reunited with the expensive piece of kit.

Mr Clarke had almost given up hope of seeing the computer again and had remotely locked it.

But days after it went missing the 26-year-old received emailed photos taken by the clever computer whenever it was switched on.

The pictures include a scruffy-looking dog, a pink child’s suitcase and a man dressed in a woolly hat.

The person in the hat may not know the iPad belongs to Mr Clarke.

Mr Clarke, from Brighton, has now released the snaps as an appeal to find the missing iPad.

The computer was left on a shopping trolley as Mr Clarke unloaded his bags at Tesco in the Holmbush Centre, Shoreham, on December 18.

It was only on the drive home that he realised it had not been put in the car.

Mr Clarke, who is in the band Two Choices and also works for a recruitment software company, said: “I took it to Tesco like an idiot because I wanted to use a recipe app, which was my first mistake.

“I had it on the child’s seat at the checkout and somewhere between there and the car it disappeared.

“Whoever found it was perfectly placed to take it back to Tesco.”

The computer contains a piece of software that enables pictures to be sent back to the lawful owner.

Mr Clarke began receiving photographs five days later.

He said: “The timing of the pictures is pretty key.

“The dog picture was taken a few hours after it went missing.”

He said it is not just the expense of the computer that has driven him to find it.

Mr Clarke said: “All my stuff is on there – all my photos and all my emails. It is a pretty personal thing.

"I would just like to have it back.”

Sussex Police confirmed officers are investigating the theft and have received the photos to consider as a line of inquiry.

Anyone with information should contact Sussex Police on 101.

More news from The Argus

Follow @brightonargus

Like us on Facebook

Add us to your circles on Google+