Thief found hiding under a bed faces court

A dozy defendant photographed by police hiding under a bed with his legs sticking out after dodging bail for stealing cash from a fish shop has been spared jail.

By The Newsroom

Published 18th Aug 2017, 14:33 BST

Updated 11th Sep 2017, 11:52 BST

Officers who arrested Jan Sivak, 30, posted a picture of him on social media and joked "he will not be winning any awards for hide-and-seek champion soon".

He was wanted after failing to surrender to bail at Bradford Magistrates Court on June 27 to answer a charge of burgling a fish and chip shop.

Sivak was captured by the officers who could not help to take a picture of the bumbling burglar with his entire bottom half poking out from under a bed.

Sivak admitted to stealing £3,000 in cash and other goods from the upstairs office between June 3-4.

Appearing today at Bradford Crown Court Sivak received an eight-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.

He will also have to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Durham Hall QC said: "You need to decide where your life is going.

"You have been a hard working man and you've fallen into bad habits and the wrong crowd. It's got to stop.