A burglar was tracked down by police after he was seen carrying a large safe in broad daylight.
John Readman, aged 41, was spotted carrying the item by a member of the public who immediately called the police shortly after 5pm on Thursday 5 July.
Shortly after he was detained in James Murray Mews, Mansfield, officers learned that a locked safe had just been stolen from a commercial premises in nearby Rock Valley.
Readman, of Alder Close, Forest Town, initially declined to answer any of the questions posed to him but later pleaded guilty to burglary.
Appearing at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday he was given a three-month prison sentence suspended for one year, and ordered to complete a programme of alcohol rehabilitation treatment
Sergeant Alice Bartle, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“We regularly deal with brazen criminals, but this is certainly the first time I’ve come across someone carrying a stolen safe through the streets.
“Unsurprisingly this raised some local suspicions and I’d like to thank the member of the public who phoned this in.
“Readman has been given a chance here to stay out of prison and change the direction of his life, and I really hope he makes full use of that chance.”
