A man has been charged with burglary after a person was captured on CCTV walking into a house in the middle of the day while the family were home.

Cesar Fernandez Lopez of Gravel Walk, Rochester, was arrested on Wednesday following a reported burglary at a property in Star Hill, Rochester on Tuesday afternoon. A purse was reported to have been stolen.

The 43-year-old has been charged today and remanded in custody until an appearance by virtual court before Medway Magistrates tomorrow.

He has also been charged with one count of burglary relating to a reported burglary in Borstal Road, Rochester, on Sunday, April 24 and one count of fraud by false representation relating to property stolen during this burglary.

On Tuesday, a CCTV camera captured a man walking along a fence next to a property in Star Hill, Rochester before opening the back gate and strolling into the garden. A man then opens the back door and goes into the house, before reappearing and quickly walking back the way he had come.

Don Wright was in the lounge on the ground floor of his home at the time while his wife Sharon was in the dining room.

Mr Wright said: “She heard the gate click but thought it was our son coming in, then there was a rustling noise coming from the kitchen and the gate clicked again.

“You can see her looking out of the window at the end of the footage. Just missing him. She saw the gate wasn’t shut properly, so went downstairs to find her purse missing out of her bag.”

The burglary took place just after 2pm on Tuesday and their son Matt Wright shared the footage on Facebook which has now been viewed more than 5,000 times.

The man was dressed in a dark brown jacket, dark trousers and shoes, with a rucksack over one shoulder.

Mr Wright added: “We managed to cancel all of her cards before any were used, but it’s the thought someone had the front to do that in broad daylight. When there was three of us and a dog at home.

“It looks like he knew the layout pretty well by the way he came in, almost as though he knew the place.”