A pair of suspected burglars were caught, carrying their loot, by London police officers who followed footprints they had unwittingly left in the snow.

The police were called to a break-in in Sutton, South London, on Monday to find a garage door open and several items missing. Officers soon noticed that two sets of footprints led away from the scene and down a side street.

Rare snowfall in London, as temperatures reached minus 10C, meant the criminals had left a trail of evidence with every step along their escape route.

At around 4.30am, with local residents still in bed, the trail in the fresh snow was unsullied by commuters. Officers, accompanied by sniffer dogs, were able to follow the prints along Glebe Road, across driveways and down alleys.

For an hour they traced the footprints for more than a mile along Sandy Lane, Scotsdale Close, across the A217, then into Summerville Gardens, and into Quarry Park Road.

A milkman they passed on the route confirmed that he had seen two people hurrying down the street a few minutes earlier.

Finally, they turned into Antrobus Close where they discovered a pair of teenagers, aged 16 and 17, with a number of electronic items. Subsequent searches uncovered further goods including iPods and mobile phones that are believed to have been stolen.

Police said two people have been bailed pending further enquiries.

Dave Willis, from Sutton CID, said: “This was an excellent piece of work by our colleagues. We are more used to using powder to find fingerprints to help solve crime, but on this occasion the dusting of snow has helped us recover a significant amount of stolen property.”

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