Thief inadvertently called 999 during robbery

I was led to this amusing Birmingham Mail story of unsuccessful criminals by the latest issue of Fortean Times:

It was during this incident, Mr Harrington told jurors, Everitt had mistakenly called the emergency services as the group attempted to get into the cash machine.

He said Everitt was using a Nokia phone and "importantly here he made a mistake." Mr Harrington said the phone had a feature which meant the owner could accidentally make a call to the emergency services.

"That is precisely what Everitt's phone did during this event and of course calls are recorded. You do not hear any speech on it but what you can hear matches precisely what we can see on CCTV," he said. Mr Harrington said you could hear the sound of gas pumping, sawing and an angle grinder.

He said they were successful in exploding the ATM but again were not rewarded in getting to the money inside. Shortly afterwards the police arrived and the gang made off in the BMW, said Mr Harrington.