Burglar calls police to own crime

By Chen Qian  |   2008-10-23  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A BURGLAR in northeastern China's Liaoning Province has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after a bizarre attempt at burglary.

Prosecutors said the would-be burglar, Li Bin, 32, called the police himself after a village couple he was trying to rob refused to give him money.

The district court of Huludao City, Liaoning Province, heard Li broke into the couple's home in April and threatened them with a kitchen knife. He demanded that they hand over all their money to him.

The husband, also surnamed Li, pleaded that they didn't have any valuables, but Li Bin was not convinced, prosecutors said.

They said Li Bin then told the couple: "I will call the police and ask them to take away your dead bodies."

Li Bin then stunned the family by calling the police and telling them that a couple had been killed during a robbery. He gave the police the exact address.

Village officials found him at the scene when they arrived and initially drove him away as they thought he had come to settle a financial dispute with the couple. However, the victims soon told police what had happened and that he was armed with a knife. Li Bin was caught the same day.

Li told the court hearing that he was drunk that day.