A ROBBER got more than he bargained for when he returned to the scene of his crime.

A masked man used a pickaxe to break the reinforced window of Joseph Welch Jewellers on the corner of South Street in Wellington at 3am on Saturday.

He took watches but after the police had gone he returned three hours later and tried to snatch more timepieces.

But lurking behind the shop window was shop owner Joe Welch who used the handle of a vacuum cleaner to ‘whack’ the robber.

“This time around he was not wearing a mask,” said Mr Welch. “He must have waited until the police had left and then came back and put his hand through the same hole again."

For the full story see this week’s Wellington Weekly News