A burglar caught trying to remove a National Lottery display from a shop ran out of luck when some witnesses spotted what he was doing and called police.
Damien Braime and two other men were seen smashing their way into Heron Foods late on June 15.
At 11.20pm they targeted the Ravensthorpe Retail Park store, Kirklees magistrates were told.
Prosecutor Vanessa Jones said that some people sat in a car nearby heard the sound of smashing glass.
She told magistrates: “The front door glass was smashed and two males climbed through.
“The witnesses ran over to the shop and saw the same two males coming out.
“One, the defendant, was carrying a Lottery tickets stand in his hand.”
The witnesses bravely detained the burglars and called police.
Braime, 29, pleaded guilty to entering a building as a trespasser with intent to steal.
Jonathan Slawinski, mitigating explained that his client recently found work as a production operative but then broke his hand.
He said: “He’s fallen on hard times and committed this ridiculous, stupid offence.
“He got sucked into it with two others and two of them were apprehended in the area at the time.
“It was purely financial as he was struggling.
“He tried to take the Lottery sign with him through the doorway and was caught in the act.”
Magistrates addurned sentencing until July 18 so that a pre-sentence report can be prepared.
They bailed Braime, of Providence Street in Cleckheaton, with the condition that he does not enter Ravensthorpe Retail Park.
