A hapless car thief picked the wrong vehicle when he was caught on the camera of an unmarked police car he had targeted.
Peter Marsh smashed his way through the window of the Ford Escort which had been left overnight in a car park in Brighton - unaware he was being filmed by Sussex Police.
Though he made off with a disabled badge and a sat-nav device, Marsh was recognised by an officer who saw the footage.
And when police went round to his apartment - in the aptly named Kestrel Court - they found him perching on the balcony, trying to evade his callers.
Appearing before Brighton magistrates, Marsh admitted theft and two charges of assaulting police officers - both committed while he resisted being taken to court to answer for the initial theft.
After kicking out at an officer and landing a blow in the groin, Marsh booted another in the leg, before being subdued with an incapacitating spray.
He is due to be sentenced on 7 July.
