"Trapped Aldi burglar was never there"

EMERGENCY services spent more than five hours looking for a suspected burglar who was reported to be trapped in the air vents of supermarket — only to find the suspect wasn’t there.

Police and firefighters were called to Aldi on Littlefield Road, Dinnington at around 8.55am on Wednesday.

The caller said there was a man trapped in the roof — but by 3pm a thorough search of the building by engineers found there was no-one in it.

A police helicopter was even scrambled from Sheffield to try and spot the would-be shoplifter.

But a police spokeswoman said later in the day “a thorough search has been conducted and police can confirm that there is no-one in the roof”.

She said the shop was broken into at around 1.25am on Wednesday and it was reported that entry had been gained via the store’s air duct system.

Anyone with any information about the burglary should contact police on 101, quoting incident number 39 of June 1.

Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.