A clueless burglar was found dangling upside down from his shoelaces after getting stuck on a window frame while trying to break into a flat.

A court heard that Lee Kenneth Moore, 41, was discovered “moaning and groaning” by the couple living in the flat. The startled homeowner asked Moore what he was doing, to which the upside-down intruder replied: “I don’t know where I am.” Prosecutor Leila Taleb explained that Moore had used recycling bins to climb up to the small open window of the York city centre flat.

However, as he tried to squeeze through the window, his laces got caught in the frame and his foot became trapped in the window lock. Judge Simon Hickey described it as “one of the most inept burglaries that has appeared before me for quite some time” and sentenced Moore to two years and four months in prison.