New Zealand thief returns stolen goods

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A thief with a conscience who broke into a New Zealand home not only returned the stolen goods, but apologised and promised to pay for any damage, media reported on Friday.

The burglar broke into a home in the picturesque South Island tourist town of Queenstown, taking a laptop computer, a camera and a wallet containing a credit card, which he used to buy a basketball and two pair of gloves.

But the apparently guilt-stricken thief broke into the house for a second time, returning the stolen items and the goods bought on the credit card.

Victim Graeme Glass said he was surprised to find the looted items on a table when he came home and a note in his diary.

"It was sort of an apology for breaking into our home and violating our home," Glass told National Radio. "It's all pretty bizarre really."

The burglar said in the note he would pay for the broken window "when I have enough money", and that he was "sorry from the bottom of my heart".

Police said they were looking for a male in his late teens or early twenties.