Girl's stickman drawing helps catch serial burglar

An 11-year-old girl's pencil sketch has helped US police catch a serial burglar who ransacked 10 homes in her street.

Rebecca DePietro was given a standing ovation at a police ceremony in Stratford, Connecticut last week marking the special achievement.

After a string of burglaries in her street police asked the residents if they could remember anyone suspicious hanging around the local area.

Rebecca thought she could and drew this sketch of a stick figure, amazingly it helped the police catch the man they wanted.

Rebecca told NBC Connecticut : "I was like, 'Yeah I can draw a picture of him,"

"It wasn't like the best picture, it was just a head and some legs and I thought 'Oh he's probably just going to crumple it up and throw it out.'"

Going against Rebecca's initial thoughts the police officers used the sketch and matched it closely to the picture of a suspect.

Stratford Police Chief Patrick Ridehour said: "For us to take that sketch and match it up, it was remarkable.

"Maybe she's part of our next generation of detectives."

The sketch helped Stratford Police catch a Pedro Bruno who confessed to being responsible for 10 burglaries in the area, including one at the little girl's home.

The officers were also able to recover some of the items the suspect stole thanks to stickman sketch.