In the woods near the western French town of Surin, the police arrested a former British soldier who had been there for five months. The 51-year-old man was hiding after being sentenced to 15 months in prison for about 40 burglaries in the vicinity of the town, reports The English News.
According to the broadcaster France 3, the man stayed for five months in a camouflaged tent, wholly hidden between the woods and branches. Between his stay in the woods, the former soldier went quietly with his raids. Eventually, the police found him when the broken branches in the forest began to stand out.
In the hiding place of the man, officers found more than 200 stolen items, such as cameras, computers and jewellery. Remarkably, the man in his home also had a TV that worked on a battery, of course also stolen. Presumably, he lived daily on the food that other people had in their house.
In Surin, the shock was good because of the burglary. “A couple has been robbed eight times,” says the mayor in French media. “They even had bars in front of their kitchen windows to keep them out, and every time they broke, they had just refilled their fridge.”
The former soldier probably used his military skills to build his tent. He is stuck and not only has to serve his cell punishment for the previous burglaries but also gets a new trial for the further robberies.