A "pair of boneheads" fell into the police's lap on Monday after their car ran out of petrol metres from a burglary in Whangarei.
Police saw the light side of the crime, posting on social media that sometimes they have to work hard to solve a crime but not so on this occasion.
"A house on Whareora Rd, Whangarei had a brick launched through the window by a pair of boneheads, taking the TV, the homeowners supply of homebrew and a CCTV camera.
"What they forgot to do was check how much fuel they had in their vehicle, we found them high-tailing it away from their vehicle just down the road from the burglary," said the posting on the Northland Police Facebook page.