A light-fingered thief was caught red-handed after police officers stumbled across the pinched KFC Colonel during a search of a suspect’s home.

According to police, thieves stole the Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sanders logo from outside the restaurant in High Street Colchester over Christmas.

Just this weekend the mystery was put to bed after the Colchester town team completed a house search and recovered the Colonel.

On Facebook, police said the Colonel was found under the suspects bed and two males were dealt with for their "silly behaviour".

Officers from the Colchester team posted about their finger-licking find on Facebook, celebrating with the hashtags #WinnerWinnerChickenDinner and #TownTeam.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "We received a report on Wednesday 26 December about the theft of a sign from KFC, in Colchester High Street.

"Following our enquiries, we recovered the sign at an address in Colchester on Saturday 4 January and we gave words of advice to two men.

"We will be making our enquiries with the victim in relation to a community resolution."