Every so often we get a new candidate for the title of ‘Britain’s dumbest criminal’, and this man from Nottinghamshire named Ashley Whitehouse is definitely in the running.
The 42-year-old tried to carry out a break-in at a house in Worksop, Notts, but made a number of brainless errors that you would think were basic common sense for any burglar worth their salt.
First of all, Whitehouse selected a house where the homeowners were in, which is always going to make things 100x more difficult. Sure enough, when he broke into the property at 8am, the homeowners woke up and immediately confronted him.
His second mistake was leaving his mobile phone at scene. Thirdly, he stared directly into the Ring doorbell camera with zero attempt to conceal his identity (he put his mask on afterwards), and gave perhaps the cleanest image of a burglar a Ring doorbell camera has ever caught in its history.
Finally, as if he wasn’t in enough trouble already, Whitehouse headbutted the female police officer who tried to arrest him.
Initially, Whitehouse was chased out of the house by one of the homeowners and threw rocks at him as he tried to escape.
He then decided to return to the property and throw a paving slab through their car window, before attacking the man with a large stick.
In the end, all he managed to take was a purse containing a bank card, which would have been immediately canceled. Which means Whitehouse essentially traded his phone (which he left behind) for a purse and a useless bank card.
Looks a few washing machines short of a launderette, doesn’t he? (Shout out Dot Cotton).
As his phone was left at the scene, Whitehouse was easily tracked down and arrested at his home just two hours later, and that’s when he headbutted the police officer after also injuring her ear.
Detective Constable Amy McMillan, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘It will have been a frightening experience for the victims to be awoken by an intruder and then come face to face with a masked man inside their home.
‘Whitehouse reacted violently to being disturbed and continued his aggressive behaviour by hurling bricks at the victim as he fled and assaulting him.’
He was jailed for two years and 11 months at Nottingham Crown Court, which seems a bit soft for a burglary, criminal damage, assault + headbutting a female PC.
Who knows – maybe some time in prison will help him develop his thieving skills and actually become a half-competent criminal, like having the sense to not rob a home in broad daylight, for example.
For the man who robbed a woman at gunpoint and then added her on Facebook and asked her out, click HERE. Who says romance is dead eh?
