Wanted man caught by police after huge teddy bear spotted 'breathing'
The criminal has now been jailed, and police said they hope he has a 'bearable' time behind bars
A wanted man was caught by police after they spotted a huge teddy bear seemingly breathing.
Joshua Dobson, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, had been wanted by cops since May, when he stole a car before fuelling up without paying.
Last month, officers went to the 18-year-old's address to arrest him when they noticed a large teddy bear in the property that appeared not to be entirely inanimate - and there's no prizes for guessing who was stuffed inside the bear folks.
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Now, the car thief has been sentenced to nine months behind bars.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Rochdale posted on Facebook: "A wanted car thief who tried using a teddy bear to hide from our neighbourhood cops out looking for him last month has been put behind bars for nine months.
"Joshua Dobson (18), from the Spotland area of the town, was sought by us after stealing a car in May and not paying for fuel that same day.
"When we went to arrest him, our officers noticed a large bear breathing in the address before finding Dobson hidden inside."
Clearly delighted his bold hiding bid didn't pay off, the force proceeded to poke a little punny fun at the crook.
The post continued: "He's now stuffed behind bars after being sentenced last week for theft of a motor vehicle, driving while disqualified, and making off from a petrol station without payment.
"Hopefully he has a bearable time inside..."
And if you think that's a bit much, you only have to look at the comments from the local community to see the police bearly scratched the surface.
One person wrote: "He will only have the bear necessities whilst in jail."
Another said: "Omg I had to check the date.. should have saved this for 1st April.
"I bearlieve he will be enjoying his marmalade sandwiches for the next 9 months."
A third added: "Apprehended by officers on paw patrol."
While a fourth wrote: "The bear faced cheek of it."
Another raised the fairly valid point that the bear, while big, doesn't appear human-sized - so how exactly did the thief fit in there?
It seems quite unbearlievable, but then again criminals can be sneaky and police are trustworthy - or so we're told - so we bearst bearlieve it's true.
Jake Massey