Child burglar confesses to crime

Four youths thought to be involved in the burglary of Trev's Sports standing outside the Vodafone shop on Queen St shortly before the break-in on Friday.

The cat burglar who broke into Trev's Sports in Masterton last weekend has owned up after CCTV images of the burglary went viral online.

The store's CCTV footage showed the youth clambering into the store via a pipe in the Mastermall building and then stealing hundreds of dollars' worth of goods.

The owner of Trev's Sports, Quentin Henderson, said the young man, a Year 9 student, contacted the deputy principal at his school after the footage was posted on the store's Facebook page.

A number of people also messaged the store with information regarding the burglary, he said.

"Sure enough it went round really fast. He handed himself in yesterday to the deputy principal. I've had that much help from people. I'm going to split it [the reward] up and give it to some of the first people who helped."

The boy's younger brother was also involved and has come forward as well, Mr Henderson said.

Some of the stolen goods were recovered but other items had been passed on and were still being tracked down.

He would be working with the family to arrange compensation if necessary, he said.

"I don't want them to be disadvantaged ... [but] we want our money as quickly as possible."

The Trev's Sports Facebook page received about 16,000 hits and the Wairarapa Times-Age Facebook page received 6000 hits on the story.

The other two boys have also been identified and their details passed on to the police, Mr Henderson said.

He will be looking into the possibility of putting barbed wire on the internal wall that was used to access the shop.

Police confirmed several people had come forward in relation to the incident.