Burglar caught looking into camera while trying to break Ring doorbell

Sam Norman, 35, was caught red-handed trying to break into a property in Pinvin, near Pershore, Worcestershire.

Ross McGuinness
Updated ·3-min read

Watch: Burglar caught red-handed while trying to smash Ring doorbell camera

This is the moment a burglar was literally caught red-handed while trying to break into someone's home.

Sam Norman, 35, was wearing a pair of red gloves when his face was caught on a Ring doorbell camera outside the property.

He stared straight into the doorbell camera after his hood slipped to reveal his face as he attempted to destroy the Ring device.

Footage recorded outside the property in the village of Pinvin, near Pershore, Worcestershire, showed Norman, clad in red gloves, poking the security camera with a pole until it pointed away from his face.

Sam Norman captured on CCTV. Footage captures a would-be burglar trying to dislodge the camera recording his every move so he can slip into a home undetected during a botched break-in. Sam Norman, 35, can be seen using a pole to try and dislodge the camera at a home in Salt Boxes in Pivin, near Pershore, during an attempted burglary on July 10. The property was under renovation at the time and he also gained entry to a shed. However, he escaped empty-handed when the homeowners confronted him, alerted to his presence by the security system.
Sam Norman looks into a Ring doorbell camera during an attempted burglary. (SWNS)

However, by then it was too late and he had already been caught on camera.

Norman also came face-to-face with the homeowner who was in at the time of the botched break-in on 10 July.

Read more: Parcel thefts - what to do if your package is stolen and how to stop it

Sam Norman. See SWNS story SWLSthief. Footage captures a would-be burglar trying to dislodge the camera recording his every move so he can slip into a home undetected during a botched break-in. Sam Norman, 35, can be seen using a pole to try and dislodge the camera at a home in Salt Boxes in Pivin, near Pershore, during an attempted burglary on July 10. The property was under renovation at the time and he also gained entry to a shed. However, he escaped empty-handed when the homeowners confronted him, alerted to his presence by the security system.
Sam Norman pleaded guilty to attempted burglary. (SWNS)

Norman fled the scene on a bicycle but was later identified by police from the Ring doorbell footage.

Norman, from Drakes Broughton, Worcestershire, pleaded guilty at Worcester Crown Court to attempted burglary as well as two other break-ins.

He was given an 18-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months and a 12-week 9pm-8.30am curfew.

Sam Norman captured on CCTV. See SWNS story SWLSthief. Footage captures a would-be burglar trying to dislodge the camera recording his every move so he can slip into a home undetected during a botched break-in. Sam Norman, 35, can be seen using a pole to try and dislodge the camera at a home in Salt Boxes in Pivin, near Pershore, during an attempted burglary on July 10. The property was under renovation at the time and he also gained entry to a shed. However, he escaped empty-handed when the homeowners confronted him, alerted to his presence by the security system.
Sam Norman was caught by a Ring doorbell camera as he attempted to break into a property in Pinvin, Worcestershire. (SWNS)

The property targeted by Norman was being renovated at the time of the attempted break-in, the court heard.

The video footage showed Norman looking through a wheelie bin before finding the pole of a clothes line that he jabbed at the security camera.

When confronted by the homeowner, Norman apologised before fleeing the scene.

A West Mercia Police spokesperson said: "There was a confrontation in the garden.

“He [Norman] was trying to get into the house and activated the Ring doorbell camera and then tried to move the camera.

“The homeowner challenged him and he apologised and cycled off. He did not get away with any property."

FILE - a Ring doorbell camera is seen installed outside a home in Wolcott, Conn., on July 16, 2019. Amazon has provided Ring doorbell footage to law enforcement 11 times this year without the user’s permission, a revelation that’s bound to raise more privacy and civil liberty concerns about its video-sharing agreements with police departments across the country. The disclosure came in a letter from the company that was made public Wednesday, July 13, 2022, by U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
Police have increasingly been turning to Ring doorbell footage for use in cases. (AP Photo)

Can footage from Ring doorbells be used by police as evidence?

Ring doorbells are manufactured by Ring, which is owned by Amazon.

A number of UK police forces have said they have handed out free Ring doorbells to the public in an effort to deter crime.

Suffolk Police gave out 1,000 Ring doorbells, the Sunday Times reported in 2019.

At the end of last year, the Metropolitan Police said it was launching a trial of giving Ring doorbells to victims of multiple burglaries in London, Planet Radio reported.

Police forces do advise people to install doorbell cameras to prevent their parcels being stolen.

Footage from doorbell cameras can, in some cases, be shared with police as evidence and can be used in legal proceedings. However, they should not be used to film property belonging to others.

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