Burglars were caught out by their snow tracks

Two men have been brought to justice by Cleveland Police after officer tracked them down.

On the snowy evening of Friday, February 26, two officers spotted two men crossing the A1027 between the Norton turn off and the A19. They were both riding bikes and carrying items in their hands.

They signalled for the men to stop, but the pair dropped all of the property they were carrying and cycled off.

Officers recovered £3,000 worth of property and traced the bicycle tracks in the direction the men had come from back to a house where they discovered a burglary had taken place.

After speaking with the victim, officers then followed the bicycle tracks of the two men they had spotted earlier to see where they had disappeared to.

One of the officers followed the tracks on foot whilst the other followed in a police car. After six miles of walking, the tracks led them to a property in Billingham which had several lights on inside.

The police knocked on the door, one of the men seen cycling earlier answered and was arrested. The second man was trying to escape through a window, but both officers managed to get hold of him and he was also arrested. Both men were later charged with burglary.

The pair have now appeared in court, one was given a two-year suspended sentence, a drugs rehabilitation order and was ordered to pay a victim surcharge. The other was given a 12 month community order, a drugs rehabilitation order and 40 hours of unpaid work.