Dressing room sneak thief poses as player

A burglar sneaked into a leisure centre pretending to be a member of a football team before kicking in the door to their changing rooms and stealing phones, cash and clothes.

But he was snared by police minutes later after a quick-thinking player traced his iPhone using a tracking signal.

The raider struck at Monkton Recreation Centre, in Pinfold Lane, Penkridge, during a Penkridge Town men's match which was abandoned at half-time after players discovered the break-in. Four people from Wolverhampton have been arrested.

A 30-year-old man has been released on bail pending further inquiries.

Two other men, aged 18 and 33, and an 18-year-old woman have been freed without charge.

Police spokeswoman Faye Casey said car keys, mobile phones, clothes, wallets, bank cards and cash belonging to several people had been taken.

Today, the manager of the leisure centre, who did not want to be named, said players had helped police to close in on a suspect.

The 40-year-old said: "All the lads went in at half-time for their team talk and realised their stuff had been stolen.

"One of them had a location tracker on his phone and managed to pinpoint where it was and let the police know.

"I think about two-thirds of the stuff has been recovered now."

He added that the raid was the first time the leisure centre had been targeted in four years.

"I don't know what more we could do in terms of security – we have got CCTV, we keep the changing rooms locked during the games, and teams are given keys to get in when there are substitutions and at half-time," the manager said.

"This guy has come in as part of a team and pretended to be one of the players, waited and then kicked the door in after it was locked up.

"It's one of those times of the year where people are so desperate."

Witnesses are asked to call Staffordshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.