Crime doesn't pay!28 June 2005
The British Chambers of Commerce survey into crime against business, published in 2004, showed that nearly two-thirds of businesses had been victims of crime in the previous 12 months.
But we've found some examples of when the criminals didn't get away with it.
An 18-year-old burglar in China broke into a decoration company. Before leaving he found some milk and cakes in a fridge and decided to sit down to eat first. Feeling a little sleepy after his meal, the teenager pushed four chairs together to take a short nap. Employees found him still asleep in the morning with his haul of stolen goods by his side.
A man robbed a supermarket of about $5000. The local newspaper ran the story, but with the amount given as $7000. When the thief called the newspaper to complain about the inaccuracy, the newspaper staff kept him busy on the phone. The police traced the call to a phone box and arrived to arrest him while he was still on the phone!
A security guard in Fresno, California, called police when he heard a banging noise coming from the boot of a car. When police arrived, they found "the dumbest criminal of the day". The thief had crawled inside the boot and ransacked its contents. But when he tried to heave himself out, he closed the boot on top of him. He was treated for cuts and was charged on two counts of theft.
A man broke into a bank's basement through a street-level window, cutting himself in the process. He then realized that he couldn't get to the money from where he was, he couldn't climb back out the window and that he was bleeding pretty badly. So he dialled "911" for help.
Shopkeeper Neil Primett from Bedford spotted a passer-by dressed in clothes stolen three weeks ago from his store. Mr Primett told The Guardian: "I couldn't believe it - he was wearing such a mismatch". The suspect's clashing combination of green check elasticated trousers, a jazzy tracksuit top and the electric blue sleeveless T-shirt with 'Criminal' in luminous yellow made him hard to miss.
And things don't get better once they are caught
Joe Arpaio - America's toughest sheriff - forced more than 700 inmates to wear nothing but pink underwear, flip-flops and handcuffs to walk to their new prison in Arizona. Sheriff Arpaio reckoned the dangerous hardmen would be too embarrassed to go on the run. After arriving at their new maximum-security home there was an official opening ceremony with one prisoner cutting a pink ribbon on the gates.
