A dopey burglar who ransacked a couple’s home while they were on holiday has landed himself in jail after accidentally sending a selfie of himself to the victim’s colleagues.
Ashley Keast, 25, snapped the picture of himself in a white sleeveless vest using a stolen SIM card which he swiped while burgling the property.
Keast, of Norfolk Court, Rotherham, put the stolen SIM card into another phone, took the boasting selfie and posted it on the ‘WhatsApp’ messenger application.
However, in doing so, the picture was also sent to all the contacts stored on the stolen SIM, meaning friends and work colleagues of the victim received the photo.
Tattooed Keast and his sidekick Anthony Hunt burgled the couple’s home in Brinsworth, Rotherham, on September 11 last year and stole £27,000 worth of goods including a 4,000 Rolex watch, an Audi A4, electrical items and sentimental jewellery.
On the night of the offence, Keast and Hunt, 27, had borrowed a friend’s car to go and buy cigarettes but instead broke into the house via a rear patio door.
The stolen Audi A4 was found crashed in Rotherham town centre a short time after the raid.The pair were caught after the victim's work colleagues became suspicious after receiving the selfie and alerted police, who arrested the duo the following day.
Officers found the stolen Rolex watch wrapped in a towel behind a radiator at Keast’s town centre flat and later returned it to the victim.
