A BURGLAR met his match in two sharp-eyed posties, a court was told yesterday.

Postman Stewart Rose spotted there had been a break-in at a detached bungalow where everything had been secure on his previous day's delivery.

Soon afterwards, colleague Graeme Store saw a man walking slowly and carrying a sack over his shoulder. The man even tried to sell him a personal CD player.

Paul Cowley, 24, tried to sell other passers-by a video recorder and power tools from his sack, which turned out to be a duvet cover, said Paul Cleasby, prosecuting.

The police were alerted and found Cowley at a bus stop with his haul from the bungalow, in Gipsy Lane, Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough.

Glass fragments on his clothing from a broken patio door and a footprint linked him with the raid, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Cowley of Fulbeck House, Thorntree, Middlesbrough, admitted the July burglary.

John Gillette, defending, said Cowley had drug and alcohol problems, but had been promised a job, and treatment at a clinic.

He was ordered to do 100 hours community service and put on probation for two years.