A BURGLAR was caught in the act in a vicarage, with £300 of church donations on his person.

A member of the public reported a suspicious man entering the garden of a vicarage in Tisbury to an off-duty police officer yesterday evening (Sunday, September 17).

PC Steve Porter could not find anyone on the premises but phoned 999 to report a possible burglary.

While waiting for on-duty officers, PC Porter saw the suspect and managed to detain him.

The suspect was searched, and was found to be in possession of religious clothing, more than £300 of church donations and two bottles of alcohol from the vicarage.

A 38-year-old local man was arrested on suspicion of burglary and is currently in custody.

Inspector Andy Fee said: "This is great work carried out by Stev,e who just happened to be off-shift at the time - a good example which shows our local communities that our dedicated police officers are never really off duty.

"Had it not been for Steve’s actions it is highly likely that our suspect would have gone before on-duty officers arrived."