Footage has been released of a burglar struggling for half an hour to open a safe at a Teesside bookmakers.
Jinxed John Hawkes, 40, smashed a hole in the roof at the Coral office and then bashed down interior walls before attacking the safe with an angle grinder for 30 minutes.
But his luck was out because the whole episode with the safe was being filmed on CCTV cameras inside the shop in Thornaby.
He may even have phoned a friend during it because the footage shows him on his mobile phone.
A detective who watched a run of it identified Hawkes, who was in breach of two suspended jail sentences for previous burglaries.
Prosecutor Harry Hadfield told Teesside Crown Court that items of clothing he was wearing on film during the 3.30am break-in in Westbury Street, Thornaby, on January 16 were recovered from his home in the town.
The woman manager at Coral said she was shocked by the damage he caused because she was so proud of the betting shop. She said that it had hurt her pride that she felt in her workplace.
Hawkes failed to open the safe, but he took an electronic tablet which held much of the branch’s records and the business was unable to operate the next day.
He had been given suspended jail sentences totalling 16 months in May and June last year for other commercial burglaries.
Duncan McReddie, defending, said that Hawkes understood that there was little that could be said in mitigation.
He said that Hawkes was determined to use the inevitable prison term to address his drugs problem and other issues to make him more employable.
Hawkes wanted it made clear that he had found the angle grinder in a tool box stored inside the building.
The judge Recorder Eric Elliott QC told Hawkes: “It was clearly a persistent attempt to force your way in to gain access to the safe.
“It would appear that you were disturbed and you left evidence behind, particularly the CCTV film which an officer observed and saw that you were responsible for that burglary.”
Hawkes, of Elizabeth Street, Thornaby, was jailed for 14 months with £100 victim surcharge after he pleaded guilty to the burglary.
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