Caught out by phone

A US crook was caught after he left his mobile phone charging at the house he burgled.

Cody Wilkins, 25, was disturbed while rifling through a house in Washington DC, and jumped out of a window to escape - leaving the vital clue behind in a plug socket.

Police officers called one of his contacts, telling them the phone owner had been involved in an accident and asking for his name.

Detective Kye Pak said: "Sometimes it's great investigations; sometimes it's sheer luck or sheer stupidity by the suspects. We'll take it anyway we can get it."

Cody is now being linked to about 50 different break-ins in Maryland.