Operation Reclaim: Suspected burglar caught by police climbing out of window

Officers caught a suspected burglar hanging out of a student block window with items that did not belong to him.

The incident happened on Monday 8 June at around 10.56am in North Sherwood Street.

Members of the public noticed suspicious behaviour, which included a man hanging around a student accommodation block and trying to open windows.

Officers arrived on the scene within three minutes and caught the suspected burglar climbing out of a window.

When approached, he was found with a handbag and branded clothing items that did not belong to him.

A man, aged 45, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and remains in police custody.

This is all part of Operation Reclaim, a partnership approach to tackling the major problems affecting the city centre.

City Commander Superintendent Chris Pearson said:

"Burglars will often target student properties due to the number of people who live there. For a burglar, that can be the potential of five laptops, five mobile phones and five gaming consoles.

"Most burglars are opportunists and therefore if properties are secure, such as locked windows and doors, then they will struggle to access these buildings or rooms.

"As you would expect, we take these crimes extremely seriously. It is a complete invasion of someone's private space, and we've had occasions where stolen student laptops left a profound effect on the victims due to their coursework being saved on their devices.

"On this occasion, thanks to members of the public spotting suspicious behaviour, they did the right thing and contacted the police.

"We arrived within three minutes and caught the suspected burglar at the scene. We were also able to return the items, which included a handbag and clothing to the victim.

"While Op Reclaim is targeting the key areas of concern for the public including youth anti-social behaviour, drug dealing, knife carrying, retail crime, aggressive begging and illegal e-bikes, there is no area of criminality that is not a priority for our teams.

"Burglary remains a key priority for us as a police service as we absolutely understand the impact this despicable crime has on those who fall victim.

"Thankfully, a 45-year-man now remains within our custody."