A bungling burglar left more than just fingerprints for the police after stepping in paint and creating a trail of footprints all the way back to his house.

Andrew Connor (27), had broken into a second-hand shop in Easington Colliery, County Durham, and made off with a number of items.

But when officers from Durham Constabulary arrived on the scene they found he had knocked over a tin of white paint and left a series of prints on the street outside.

They followed the paint trail, eventually arriving at a house on Vincent St with the stolen property in the rear yard.

After checking the suspect’s footwear he was arrested for burglary, less than 30 minutes after the initial call had come in.

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.”

Connor was handed a community rehabilitation order and ordered to pay £100 (€126) compensation to the owners over the incident in February.

PA