Watch the moment inept burglar frantically fails to open door after student accommodation raid

An inept burglar frantically tried and failed to open a locked door following his raid of a Nottinghamshire student housing building.

Jack Higgins, 34, was sentenced to three years behind bars after security cameras captured his fumbling attempts to escape the Beeston accommodation block.

The burglar could be seen desperately kicking and tugging at a glass door, completely oblivious to a conveniently positioned release button that would have granted him an easy exit.

Having eventually located the exit button and fled the scene, Higgins brazenly returned to the reception area, where he tried to remove a wall-mounted television.

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His attempt to conceal his identity by wrapping a scarf around his face proved futile.

Numerous cameras had already recorded clear images of him throughout the building.

Higgins’ raid occurred in the early hours of December 13 last year, when he had broken into the premises and pilfered food and drink.

Detective Constable Alexander Tenant, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Higgins was hardly subtle in his approach.”

“He was equally heavy-handed as he repeatedly tried to force his way out through the same door he had entered.

"In the process, he repeatedly exposed his face to a conveniently placed security camera and was left with little choice but to plead guilty."

Higgins, who has no fixed address, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court last Tuesday.

However, the failed raid was not his first visit to the Beeston property.

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On December 5, he and 27-year-old Iona Christos had been caught on film hauling a large arcade machine from the same building.

Investigators subsequently linked Higgins to three additional break-ins at student accommodation.

Two of these previous acts occurred at the same address.

When police apprehended Higgins three days after the December break-in, he spat in an officer's face while falsely claiming to be carrying an infectious disease.

The 34-year-old was subsequently admitted to five burglary charges, assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage, and a public order offence.

His accomplice, Christos, received a four-year prison sentence in January for her role in the arcade machine theft.

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