5:29PM, Tue Aug 21, 2012

Blundering Burglar Who Shouted His Own Name Is Jailed

By Hugh Macknight Location: South Shields

A blundering burglar who shouted out his own name has been jailed.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Kier Ruffell, 21, stole a Samsung mobile phone worth £100 from a home on Biddick Hall Drive, South Shields, at around 10.50pm on Saturday 23 June 2012.

The female occupant of the house was upstairs with her husband and 11-year-old son when Ruffell, of Whitehead Street, broke in.

Prosecuting, Paul Rowland said: "She went downstairs to let the family puppy into the back garden.

"In so doing the patio door was left insecure.

"On re-entering the living room she saw the defendant.

"She asked him who he was and he replied 'Kier.'

"She shouted for her husband and the defendant left the premises."

It was not until the next day that the householders noticed that a Samsung mobile telephone had gone missing.

Ruffell, who admitted burglary, told police that he had downed a bottle of tequila and could not remember stealing the telephone.