A burglar who left his footprint at the scene of the crime told officers that someone else must have been wearing his clothes and trainers at the time of the offence.

Michael Smith, of Allandale Road in Tunbridge Wells, appeared at Maidstone Crown Court where he stood accused of the raid at an address in Barrow Lane on Sunday, August 28 this year.

The home owners had returned to the property in the Langton Green area to find a downstairs window smashed. They believed that the intruder had been disturbed in the act as nothing was stolen.

Officers arrested 27-year-old Smith two days later and after seizing his clothes and trainers they found a matching footprint on the floor and sofa.

They also found fragments of glass from the window in his clothes, but despite the evidence Smith tried to deflect blame onto someone else by claiming he wasn’t wearing his own clothes.

His excuses wore thin and he was charged with burglary with the intent to steal and appeared before Maidstone Crown Court last month, where he eventually admitted his guilt.

Smith appeared for sentencing on Thursday, December 1 and was jailed for three years and four months for burglary, and an additional 120 days for breaching a suspended sentence.