Police catch car thief after noticing giant teddy bear is breathing

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Dobson was sentenced to nine months behind bars

A thief hoping to evade the cops in Manchester decided to hide in a giant teddy bear in the hopes of going undetected. Joshua Dobson was being hunted by the police in May after stealing a car and, in a bid to evade capture, climbed inside a five-foot tall bear via its bottom. But when police realised that the bear was "breathing", the 18-year-old from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was arrested and charged with the theft of a vehicle. Dobson was sentenced to nine months behind bars on August 5 after being found guilty of theft, driving while disqualified and skipping payment at a petrol station. According to the Manchester Evening News, the Mitsubishi was valued at £8,500. "A wanted car thief who tried using a teddy bear to hide from our neighbourhood cops out looking for him last month has been put behind bars for nine months," a spokesperson for the force said. "Joshua Dobson (18), from the Spotland area of the town, was sought by us after stealing a car in May and not paying for fuel that same day." https://twitter.com/GMPRochdale/status/1557317607233130497 The spokesperson also said that Dobson is now "stuffed behind bars." "Hopefully he has a bearable time inside..." they added. On Twitter, the bear jokes continued, with Greater Manchester Police writing: "Our neighbourhood task force and divisional tasking team in Rochdale could bearely believe what they stumbled across last month in search for a wanted man... "We certainly had a more than bearable time bringing to justice one of the town's thieves last week!"