Police have released an e-fit picture of a burglar who let a homeowner's dog out of her back garden so he could sneak into her house when she went to retrieve it.

He opened the garden gate of her home in St Leonard's Road, off Hythe Hill, Colchester, at about 2.45pm on Wednesday, January 30.

The dog's owner realised the family pet had disappeared and left the house to look for it.

While she was gone, the burglar went into her house and stole credit cards from her purse in the lounge. She returned to find him in her house but he ran off.

Contact Det Con Steve Gibbs, at Colchester CID, on 01206 762212 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

Published Friday, March 15, 2002