A woman turned detective after her jacket was stolen from a pub during a night out – and found the thief wearing it.

Laura Stehling tracked her iPhone to locate her coat – which also contained her AirPods, wallet, passport and house keys – after it was taken from The Dolphin in Albion Street, Broadstairs.

A court heard the language student and a friend were led to Northdown Road in Cliftonville, where her pal called her number and they heard the device ringing.

They soon realised a man in the street was wearing the stolen rain jacket, so they approached him and called the police.

Officers arrived and arrested 24-year-old Josh Bruton – who later said he had been drinking all evening and the theft had been a silly mistake.

Bruton, of Sturry Road, Cliftonville, was charged with theft from a person and admitted the offence when he appeared before magistrates in Margate on November 6.

The court heard the incident happened at about 1.30am on Sunday, October 1.

Dylan Bradshaw, prosecuting, said: “This is an unusual case. The victim is a student studying language at college and was on a night out at The Dolphin pub in Broadstairs with friends.

“At about 1.30am she noticed her jacket was gone. It was a rain jacket and she had her iPhone, AirPods, wallet, passport and keys in it.

“While CCTV was checked she and her friend tracked her iPhone and saw it was in Northdown Road and when they got to the road and called it, they could hear it ringing.

“They approached a male and she then realised he was wearing her jacket.

“All her property was returned to her including her passport and digs keys.”

Mr Bradshaw told the court Bruton had limited convictions, but during interview told police he had been stupid and drunk at the time and he’d made a silly mistake and he was “not that guy”. He had been drinking since 5pm that day and just carried on drinking.

Magistrates also heard it had been a big wake-up call when Bruton woke up in the police cell the next morning and realised what he had done.

The court was told he had been in prison before, but had not drunk for about three years and only smoked cannabis usually and that he knew he shouldn’t have done it.

Magistrates placed Bruton on a 12-month community order which will see him complete 140 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay Miss Stehling £100 for the inconvenience of stealing her belongings as well as a victim surcharge of £114 and £85 court costs.