As Desmond Llewelyn's Q quipped to James Bond in The World Is Not Enough: 'Always have an escape plan.' Burglar Jack Higgins was either not a fan of Pierce Brosnan's third outing as the world-famous spy, or he wasn't paying attention.
The 34-year-old was captured frantically pulling at a pair of locked doors after stealing from a student accommodation block in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Higgins, of no fixed abode, had just pilfered shopping bags full of food and a multipack of fizzy drinks from the students inside.
But he met his match in the form of the building's secure exit doors, which he struggled with despite the door release button being clearly marked on the wall next to him. Humiliating CCTV footage shows the crook, dressed head-to-toe in dark clothing with his hood pulled up, yanking at the doors before taking a step back and trying to put his foot through them.
Audibly gasping as he struggles with the stubborn handles, he tries time and again to prise them from the lock - completely unaware that the door exit button is sitting just to his left. Finally, he spots the button to the side of the door. But even the challenge of dealing with a door marked 'PUSH' seems too much - as he tries pulling it instead before finally making his way outside with an audible sigh of relief.
Nottinghamshire Police said that following the burglary on December 13 last year, Higgins returned to the building and attempted to steal a television from the wall, using his scarf to disguise himself. Unfortunately for him, his face had already been picked up in crisp detail by the building's security cameras during his bungling escape attempt.
It later emerged he and an accomplice had been caught on CCTV the week before carrying an arcade machine out of the same building. Detectives who then examined other cases of theft at other student accommodation blocks discovered he had committed three other burglaries, two at the same address.
Higgins did not take kindly to being arrested, spitting in the face of a police officer on December 16 and claiming to have an infectious disease. But he would later plead guilty to five counts of burglary, assaulting an emergency worker, criminal damage and a public order offence. Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on May 12, Higgins has now been jailed for three years.
His accomplice in the arcade machine theft, 27-year-old Iona Christos, was jailed for four years in January. CCTV footage of Higgins' embarrassing escape bid has now been released by Nottinghamshire Police, which saw fit to soundtrack it to appropriately goofy music.
Detective Constable Alexander Tenant of the force called his approach to burglary 'hardly subtle... and equally heavy-handed.' 'In the process, he repeatedly exposed his face to a conveniently placed security camera and was left with little choice but to plead guilty,' he added.
