Police catch burglar asleep next to half-eaten cheesecake

Bar owner alerted police after finding suspect curled up with dessert and Henry hoover

A burglar was found sound asleep next to a half-eaten cheesecake at the bar he had been raiding.  

Police discovered Mark Cooper, 41, curled up on the floor of 808 Bar & Kitchen in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, after they were called to a break-in on Saturday morning.  

Video footage from an officer's body-worn camera shows the bungling thief looking bewildered and shouting "whoa, whoa, whoa" to the police who tell him to "wake up".  

When Cooper appeared to ask what was happening, he was told: "You broke into a bar, man".  

Officers found raiders had broken in to the bar’s empty till and stolen food and alcohol.  

Mark Cooper, 41, was found asleep next to a half-eaten cheesecake by police responding to a break-in at a bar in Sunderland (Northumbria Police)

According to the bar’s Facebook page, one of the venue’s owners turned up shortly after 6am on Saturday to find it had been broken into.  

They began looking through CCTV footage to piece together what had happened when they realised someone had entered the building, but had not been filmed leaving.  

It was then they reportedly heard “some very hefty snoring” which led them to Cooper, who was found “spooning Henry the Hoover with the cheesecake by his side”.  

Cooper, who lives just minutes from the bar, was arrested and taken into police custody before appearing at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court on Monday.  

He admitted to burglary and was jailed for 26 weeks.  

Detective Constable Catherine Gibson, of Northumbria Police, said after the sentencing: "This burglary clearly proved to be tiring work for Cooper, and it's safe to say he was brought back to the real world with a bump when awoken by our officers."  

Officers are continuing to investigate others thought to have been involved in the break-in.  

Additional reporting by PA