New Zealand thief leaves his name at the scene of his crime

A thief has made a bid for the title of New Zealand's dumbest crook after providing his name and contact details to a store clerk minutes before grabbing money from the cash register in full view of the Christchurch store's eight surveillance cameras.

The long-time customer of Penny Lane Records on Colombo St in Sydenham began his bad caper on Friday afternoon. He approached the counter with a copy of Pink Floyd's classic rock CD The Wall and asked for it to be held for him. He wrote his name and contact details on a sticker, which was placed on the CD.

A minute later, when the store attendant went to help another customer, the man leaned over the counter and opened the till. He grabbed a handful of $10 and $20 notes, pushed past a woman who spotted him, and fled the store.



Record store manager Garry Knight said if the man had cared to look up he would have seen a monitor showing him dipping into the till from four different angles.

If that was not stupid enough, the man was a long-time, regular customer who had previously left his name and phone number in the store's "wants" book for people who had standing requests for rare records.

Knight said there were eight or so people in the store, including two eyewitnesses. "It's comical." Police were called but the man had already left the area. Knight predicted the case would not take long to crack.