A suspect, who was believed to have been in a burglary, was captured on film by the BBC’s Springwatch team making his apparent getaway. The Springwatch team had set up an infra red night vision camera, to film a family of urban foxes,. The camera footage has now become a vital piece of evidence for the Metropolitan Police, for the investigation of a break in at a neighbouring property in South London. Police since then have released an image captured from the film, appealing to anyone who might recognise the man to get in contact with them.

The camera had been set up by Simon King, a wildlife filmmaker and former co-presenter of the BBC’s Springwatch programme, at the London home of a member of his filming team. The film had captured the footage of the suspected burglar at around 3.46am on Sunday, 12^th January shortly after a break in at a house in Hollingbourne Road was reported. The burglar is reported to have fled the property empty handed, after he was disturbed by someone in the house. When the householder had watched the footage to see what fox activity had taken place, he had discovered the intruder which matched the description given by detectives and contacted the police.

Mr King said: "The camera is one of a network of live cameras we have around the country to provide 24/7 footage for my website and YouTube channel. It is specific to the website and was not filming for the BBC. This particular camera was set up to film a family of foxes. It has been in position for a year or so and the lady who lives in the house knows the foxes as individuals and has been charting their progress. We use software which tells us when there has been movement in the garden, so we can scroll through the footage to see what has been going on. But when you go through the footage you expect to see a fox, you don't expect to see a bloke in a hoodie."