A blundering burglar who broke into a house came a cropper when he came face-to-face with a copper.

Lee Cuthbert went into a cottage in Sutton Valence Hill, in August intending to steal.

But prosecutor Edmund Fowler told a jury: "However, he came across occupants, including an off-duty police officer.

"Quick as a flash Cuthbert explained he was there asking for work."

The officer told how he heard noise and then saw a tattooed arm reaching into the living room before being confronted by the officer, who said: "Can I help you?"

Cuthbert, who had left a bottle of Jack Daniels outside the property, answered: "Are your parents home... I am looking for work? I have spoken to your parents before a few times."

Initially, Cuthbert convinced the officer Connor Randall he had previously spoken to his parents about doing garden work.

"For a while this tactic bought him the benefit of the doubt from the officer, particularly as he left his details and was escorted out of the house."

But after the parents were contacted and Cuthbert, of The Harbour, Sutton Valence, was arrested, it was discovered he was on prison licence for previous burglaries

"The police officer was at home and off duty. But, as it happens, he was wearing his police uniform as he was about to go to work." Mr Fowler added.

"The reason Cuthbert had gone round the back of the isolated property and entered through an insecure back door was because he was there to find something to steal."

Cuthbert, denied the offence, claiming he was just looking for work.

But the jury at Maidstone Crown Court did not believe him and the 44-year-old was convicted of burglary and jailed for three years – under the minimum sentence three-strike rule.