A BUNGLING burglar who spent more than seven minutes smashing his way into a yacht club fled empty-handed after he was foiled by an alarm.

The hapless hooded raider spent just 20 seconds inside Chapman Sands Sailing Club, in Eastern Esplanade, Canvey, after breaking in through a front door window.

He was captured on camera climbing through the clubhouse window head-first at about 1am on Friday - before crawling back out when the alarm starting sounding.

Chapman Sands commodore Andy Gosnold said the club will have to dip into reserves to pay an excess on its insurance policy to cover the cost of the damage.

He said: “It’s very disappointing as we are club supported by our members, and have limited funds.

“Our policy will cover some of this, but we’ll have to pay an excess to fully repair the damage and that comes out of the club’s bank account.

“The security shutters were damaged and we’ve had to board the door up.”

“Fortunately what the incident did prove is that our alarm is working well, and that was what deterred the person from taking anything.

“Obviously if there are any witnesses to this, we would urge them to get in touch with the police.”

Chapman Sands Yacht Club has released CCTV footage of the break-in to help track down the culprit, who was wearing a tracksuit and gloves.

The incident comes less than a week after a police chief urged Canvey residents “to take control of their island” and turn in robbers, burglars and drug dealers.

Chief Insp Glen Westley, district commander for Castle Point and Rochford, hopes that violence and crime on Canvey could be significantly reduced if just a certain few individuals were caught.

He believes that the main culprits either live on Canvey, work there, or have other links to the island.

An Essex Police spokesman confirmed the force is investigating Friday morning’s Chapman Sands break-in.

Anyone with information about the incident can contact officers on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

To view the CCTV footage in full, visit the Echo website at echo-news.co.uk