(Credits: Nottinghamshire Police / SWNS)
This is the moment he knew he had screwed up.
A bungling burglar stares straight into a Ring Doorbell camera after accidentally leaving his phone in the very home he tried to break into.
Ashley Whitehouse, 42, was arrested just two hours later but made things worse by headbutting an arresting officer.
Whitehouse failed to steal anything after he was chased by the couple woken by the uninvited house guest at around 8am.
He had walked into their bedroom but fled the house in Worksop, Nottinghamshire on March 23 following an ‘altercation’, Nottinghamshire Police said.
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(Credits: Nottinghamshire Police / SWNS)
CCTV also captured Whitehouse hurling rocks at the homeowner as he ran away from the scene of the break-in on Wingfield Avenue.
A court heard Whitehouse continued to threaten the victims and threw a paving slab through their car window.
He also lobbed stones and bricks from a nearby garden at the man before hitting him in the stomach with a large stick.
The victims later discovered their kitchen had been ransacked and a purse containing a bank card had been stolen.
A mobile phone was also recovered from a plant pot by the front door and officers were able to identify it as Whitehouse’s device.
He was arrested at his home just two hours later and while being detained headbutted an officer who was left with an injury to her ear.
Detective Constable Amy McMillan, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘It will have been a frightening experience for the victims to be awoken by an intruder and then come face to face with a masked man inside their home.
‘Burglary is an offence which can have a deep and lasting impact on those affected.
‘This is why preventing break-ins and bringing burglars to justice is a priority for the force.
‘Whitehouse reacted violently to being disturbed and continued his aggressive behaviour by hurling bricks at the victim as he fled and assaulting him.
‘When officers tracked him down a short time later he responded by headbutting an officer who was simply doing her job.
‘As a force we will not tolerate attacks on officers. Being assaulted and injured while on duty is not part of the job description and never will be.’
He was jailed for two years and 11 months at Nottingham Crown Court today.
