A PAIR of bungling burglars were caught red-handed by a police dog while they were hiding in the rafters of a city bingo hall after a raid on fruit machines.

The burglary at Majestic Bingo, in Derwent Close, Worcester, has cost the business thousands of pounds.

Police rushed to the scene after the criminals set off the property's intruder alarm at around 3am on Monday.

It is believed the men smashed a window to get into the bingo hall and used tools to crack open 14 fruit machines, before stealing cash from inside them.

The two men then apparently tried to hide from officers in the gap between the building's air conditioning vents and the ceiling.

However, a police dog sniffed them out and they were arrested at the scene.

A West Mercia Police spokesman said officers were called to an intruder alarm and located the suspects, who tried to escape, with the help of a dog unit.

The force spokesman added that police officers found a large amount of loose change in a backpack at the scene.

Up to 12 officers attended the incident.

A similar raid at the club happened in 2014, when burglars once again broke into the site through a window.

They targeted more than a dozen game machines on that occasion and made off with thousands of pounds.

Charles McManus, aged 48, and Troy Jenkins, aged 44, both from Pelham Road, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to burglary at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

They will be sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on December 14.