A DOPEY burglar was caught out because he forgot to fill up the getaway car.

Danny Stewart, 19, fled the raid with three other men at Bellhouse Road, Eastwood, but soon realised the tank was empty and had to run to a nearby garage to get a jerry can of fuel.

Unfortunately for him, not only was he captured on CCTV at the petrol station, but the cashier recognised him as a regular customer.

A woman, who worked in the Tesco Express shop, knew his face because he used to work nearby as a car valeter.

She asked him what he had been doing to be so out of breath, and he told her he had just run out of petrol, that was all.

She thought nothing of it at the time, but later gave a statement to police.

Southend Crown Court heard a person in the queue at the store even offered to give him a lift.

His bungled efforts were compounded as they gave a witness, living in nearby Rayleigh Road, plenty of time to realise something was up.

He became suspicious when he spotted four men loading up a Renault Clio with goods, he made a note of the registration number and called police.

Officers later traced Stewart because the car was in his name and he was the only person insured to drive it.

Stewart of Eastwood Road North, Leigh, admitted his car had been in the street that day, but denied burglary.

He said he had recognised one of the crooks, who told him he was about to burgle the house, but had no part in it himself.

However he was found guilty following a three-day trial.

The court heard the burglary happened while the owners were in London having a suit-fitting for their upcoming wedding.

The husband returned on the afternoon of March 3 to find a police car on their driveway.

Ominously, knives had been removed from the kitchen and strewn in various places around the house.

Recorder Alex Hill-Smith, summing up the case, said: “He went upstairs and saw someone had stuck a knife from the kitchen into the bed in his room, and this had caused the duvet to split open.”

It was estimated the stolen goods would cost £6,600 to replace. The haul included a laptop and an XBox games console. The gang also smashed a patio door and caused about £920 of damage.

Stewart was released on unconditional bail to appear at Basildon Crown Court on Monday, October 3 for sentence. No-one else has been caught in connection with the burglary.