A Hamilton burglar built himself into a lather overnight when Police carrying out a routine check at a camping ground found he hadn't been in the shower block as claimed, but returning from a burglary.
City Tactical Coordinator, Senior Sergeant Freda Grace, said officers went to the camping ground in Hamilton East early this morning to carry out a routine bail check.
"They found he wasn't there but a short time later he ran round the corner barefoot claiming he wasn't breaching his bail but had been having a shower when the officers arrived.
"The man's hair wasn't wet nor was he wearing a towel or carrying toiletries which made our staff a bit suspicious. Giving him the benefit of the doubt they searched the shower block but there were no personal items there either."
Ms Grace said by now, the officers were a bit suspicious.
"When the man claimed he'd been confused and had actually been in the toilet block they searched that as well but came up empty handed, by now understandably their patience was wearing thin.
"A search in the direction of where the man was seen coming from resulted in clothing and a bag containing cash and other valuables being found. Our offender denied anything to do with the items but has been arrested and charged with breach of bail and our enquiries are continuing."
Ms Grace said it appears the unknown victim is an ex serviceman given a New Zealand Defence Service Medal with bars for Territorial and National Service was among items found in the bag along with a gold watch, cuff links, rings and a locket.
"So far we haven't received a burglary complaint but given the last National Service intake was in 1972, we're picking our victim to be male aged at least in his late fifties.
"Another point of interest is plastic bags of money were found marked 'kitty', 'phone and ADSL ' and 'power', so we're picking our victim is quite an organised person who carefully budgets their expenses."
If you believe you were the victim of this burglary and haven't yet reported it, Police want to know and encourage you to make contact with the Crime Reporting Line on 07 858 6200.
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