A two-year-old boy was able to help police catch a wanted thief by pointing him out from his bedroom window.

Ashton Millard from Clacton, Essex, called for his mother after spotting an unfamiliar man crouching in his garden.

He pointed to the man who was tucked in beside the family’s shed at their home on Meredith Road.

Ashton Millard, 2, spotted the man hiding beside the family’s blue garden shed on the other side of a fence from police officers

The toddler spotted the man who was on the run from police after allegedly stealing a packet of razors from a Boots store

Little did he know however the police, who were on the other side of the fence that was shielding the suspect, were led right to their target by his actions.

Ashton’s mum Alice Owens said: ‘Ashton was making noises in his room and I went in and saw him at the window.

‘He was pointing and shouting.

Ashton Millard with his mother, Alice Owens, who said police would not have found the man if it weren’t for her son

‘I went to see what had got him so excited and after a few seconds I saw a man dash across the garden.

‘It was a bit of a shock. You don’t expect to see strangers running around your garden.’

Police were in the area looking for a man who had stolen a pack of razors from a Boots store in Pier Avenue, Clacton.

They weren’t sure of the suspect’s whereabouts however until Ashton pointed from his bedroom window, which could be seen from the road officers were standing on.

Ms Owens said: ‘The police caught him when he jumped over our garden fence to get away, but they would never have known where he was if it wasn’t for Ashton.

‘The police came round to the front door after they had arrested him and told me what had happened.

‘They said they had seen Ashton pointing and it led them to the man.

‘It’s not often you get to say a child that young helped to catch a criminal.’

A 35-year-old man from Clacton was charged with two counts of theft, including stealing a gammon joint from a local Co-op store.