Not criminal masterminds: Meet Greater Manchester’s most hapless crooks

Ruthless, dastardly and cunning - these are not words you would use to describe Greater Manchester’s most hapless crooks.

From the burglar who got his head stuck in a window, to the robbers who watched their loot get blown away by a gust of wind and the cashpoint raiders who left a trail of banknotes leading police to their hideout, our region has seen its fair share of hopeless criminal enterprises over the years.

Here, the M.E.N. takes a look back at some of the more rubbish crooks to come a cropper in Greater Manchester.

This burglar was trying to break into a pensioner’s home in Radcliffe, Bury, when he got his head stuck in a bathroom window.

The householder, a woman in her 60s, came back from the shops to find the would-be intruder wedged in the first floor window - around 15ft off the ground. She dialled 999 and soon police officers arrived alongside firefighters - who spent around 20 minutes freeing the wannabe thief.

The hapless crook, who injured his ear in the incident, was arrested and later jailed for two years and four months in January 2017 after pleading guilty to burglary with intent to steal. Speaking after the case, Sergeant Richard Garland, from the GMP Whitefield team, said ‘poetic justice’ had been served.

He added: “While we can appreciate the humorous nature of this job, the lady who lived at the house was very frightened and upset by the incident. The woman, in her 60s, went out to do some shopping at around 11.10am and came home to find this man hanging out of her bathroom window.

“She was very upset at the time.”

In Droylsden, a pair of crooks robbed a travel agent and literally trousered the loot - stuffing wads of cash down their pants.

But, as one of them made his getaway and waddled off