An Ipswich man has been captured by police after a bungled break and enter saw him trapped in a pub roof on Queensland's Sunshine Coast for four hours.
Police allege the 30-year-old North Booval man was attempting to break into the Landsborough Pub on Cribb Street in Landsborough, before becoming stuck in its roof cavity.
Officers were called to the licensed venue about 6am after staff heard noises and yelling coming from the rear toilet block.
"The duty manager has arrived at the Landsborough Hotel, on arrival he's heard a male person yelling out for help," Detective Sergeant Chris Eaton said.
"And in the toilet area he's found a male person who's allegedly broken into the hotel and he's been found stuck in the ceiling cavity.
"He's managed to force his way in through the roof and that's when he's become stuck — he couldn't get his legs free, he's tried to punch his way through the ceiling, that hasn't worked and he's been stuck there until he was found by the manager.
"The CCTV showed he'd been there for some four hours — it's the middle of summer so he was sweating profusely, dehydrated and in a very distressed state."
Police will allege the man was affected by drugs at the time and Detective Sergeant Eaton said the man was lucky he was not electrocuted.
"He's also bizarrely climbed around the hotel under containers, through some of the smallest crawl spaces you can image," he said.
"We don't believe he's stolen anything but we will allege he's caused a substantial amount of damage to the roof, the electrical and wiring of the hotel, in particular that's caused problems to the cold room, which has lost power.
"Electricians did attend at the scene and my understanding is, their advice was, this man is very lucky he didn't get electrocuted crawling around in the roof space.
"So while there's a humorous side to it, there's been substantial damage caused to the pub and they're out of pocket for that.
"Tragedy hasn't happened here, but that's probably more good luck than good management."
Detective Sergeant Eaton said officers had to break through the pub's roof to help free the man, before arresting and charging him with break and enter and wilful damage.
He is due to appear in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on January 7.
