VICTIMS UTD
FURIOUS footballers used a phone-tracking app to hunt down a sneak thief who raided their dressing room during a match.
Rival sides teamed up to snare the culprit, forcing him to return hundreds of pounds worth of stolen goods.
It came after Port Glasgow Juniors players had mobile phones and cash nicked during their away match against St Roch’s FC at Glasgow’s James McGrory Park on Saturday.
The hapless crook was traced to nearby Springburn after tech-savvy players activated the Find My iPhone app on another device.
His location was confirmed when it emerged the not-toobright thief had asked a stadium receptionist to order a taxi to take him home.
Members of the home and away teams then stormed straight round to the culprit’s front door.
When the players confronted the man, raising a ladder against the wall of the property, he ended up chucking most of the stolen goods from a first-floor flat window.
Police arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and a 26-yearold man was arrested and charged.
St Roch’s manager Andy Cameron, whose side had won the match 2-1, said: “The guy had no connection to either club.
“He was just an opportunistic thief who took advantage of the fact our usual security guy was off sick to sneak into the away dressing room. “The guy must have got the fright of his life when he realised he had been caught. He threw the phones straight out of the window. “We are really sorry this happened to the Port Glasgow boys at our ground. The players didn’t manage to get the cash back that had been stolen and our fans felt so bad they had a whip round.
“The club have also contributed to make up the £300 that was lost.”
Port Glasgow’s club secretary Peter Loughlin said: “After it became apparent what had happened, the St Roch’s boys were very helpful in helping to get the stolen items back.”
Police confirmed a 26-year-old man is due to appear in court.
Find My iPhone allows users to sign into their Apple iCloud account on another device. The exact location of their phone is then shown on a map.