Thanks to Odd news for this link to the world's worst burglar. There is a long list of contenders for this title however.

There was a desperately thick character in Britain who walked into a bank with a gun, went up to the cashier and pushed a note under the glass. The bank employee read the menacing message and calmly handed over about £5000 ($9000). The robber disappeared and the cashier sounded the alarm. Before the robber had even got to the end of the street, the police were already making their way calmly to his house to lay in wait. The dumbass had written the note on the back of a pre-printed paying-in slip - for his own account.

Burglar tied up by elderly folk

This story from New Zealand was picked up by the Taipei Times. Can you follow this tortuous route to our website? The whole incident is very embarrassing. There were mumblings that the embarrassment of such a cock-up would soften up the judge, but he was having none of it..

Burglar loses face

An incompetent burglar captured and hog-tied by elderly members of a petanque club was a "laughing stock" in prison and would never again be able to hold his head up in criminal circles, his lawyer said yesterday. Clinton Michael Dearman, 38, was captured and tied up by arriving members after he broke into the club in Christchurch on Dec. 11.

The humiliation Dearman had suffered as a result of media publicity should be taken into account in sentencing, his lawyer said. But Judge Michael Crosbie showed little sympathy, sentencing Dearman to two years and four months in jail.

Got any more like this? Care to share?