Stupidity catches out holiday criminals

Avoiding police is easier if you don't fall asleep on the horn of a stolen car at 1am and wake up an entire street.

But that is exactly what one burglar did on Boxing Day, making him a late contender for the "stupidest crim of the decade" awards.

The man was arrested after residents on Whitney St, Blockhouse Bay, were woken by the sound of a horn blasting from a Pajero 4WD.

"I heard all this noise," said one man. "This guy looked stoned out of his mind and he was asleep on the horn. He woke the entire neighbourhood and he seemed too spaced out to know what was going on."

Police arrived several minutes later.

"It was a single policeman. He took one look at the guy and called for back-up straight away ... they told me the guy was wanted for something and he was a known burglar."

A day earlier, another Auckland family's Christmas was almost ruined when opportunistic robbers attempted to make off with the kids' gifts in the early hours of Christmas Day.

But Manurewa mum Annemarie Stade, 41, wasn't letting that happen: she and a neighbour nabbed the thieves.

Stade, a mother of eight, said the thieves dashed through an unlocked door and helped themselves to presents.

"We grabbed them as they jumped the fence."