Alarm down at the allotment turned into anger when a keen gardener suspected foul play in her Chard vegetable patch.
For several months Denise Williams had suspected all was not well when her fruit and veg started going walkabout.
Determined to find out the truth she installed a secret wildlife camera behind the foliage in her greenhouse.
Then, in the dead of night she caught the prolific pepper pincher red-handed when Stephen Anthony Roy was filmed sneaking into the greenhouse and leaving loaded with his loot.
When the video was handed over to the police they identified the defendant and he was arrested and claimed he had been acting “out of desperation” as he was hungry.
A qualified chef, he had his benefits stopped after failing to attend job centre appointments and decided to use the allotment patch to source his fresh ingredients to make ends meet.