Police were startled this morning when a routine search of a Gumtree vendor’s house proved him to be a law abiding citizen. Officers had crashed through the front door of the house in a dawn raid, expecting to find a horde of stolen goods, however, on closer inspection of the property, they discovered that the place was completely clean.

‘We don’t even think twice nowadays,’ commented PC Simon Briggs, ‘We see an ad go on Gumtree and we head straight over to nab the thieving bastard.’

But on this occasion, officers were shocked to find that this was a legitimate sale of goods that were just no longer needed by the seller in question.

‘At first I thought I was being robbed.’ Claimed Terry Fenwick, 21 from North London, ‘I’d been looking to sell my bike, having bought it 8 months earlier and not really used it. However, within hours of my Gumtree post, I was awoken to the sound of half a dozen policemen charging through the remnants of my front door.’

This method of catching thieves has landed Police scores of thieves and burglars who, up until recently had been stealing all manner of items and selling them via this particular website. In the words of one senior Officer, it’s become the easiest way to spot a criminal since checking for satellite dishes on council flats.