A VISITOR who was filmed on CCTV climbing into a student’s room through a window has been found not guilty of burglary.

Reece Williams was found inside the Exeter University student’s flat but was cleared by a jury after telling them he had climbed into the wrong room.

He told Exeter Crown Court that he was trying to visit a friend and had become confused by the layout of the accommodation at the Printworks halls of residence in Western Way, Exeter.

He said he thought he was in a female friend’s room and had no intention of stealing anything.

He told the jury he had looked in a drawer because he was trying to find a cigarette paper and had put a laptop into a student’s rucksack because he was tidying up.

Williams, aged 24, of Lilliana Way, Bridgwater, denied burglary and was found not guilty within 30 minutes by a jury at Exeter Crown Court.

During a two-day trial, the jury heard how Williams was caught inside Exeter University student Pedro Marqueti’s room on March 11 last year.

Maximillian Vickers, a friend who was staying with Mr Marqueti, went into his room from a communal kitchen as saw Williams holding his rucksack.

The clothes which had been inside had been tipped on the floor but his laptop and sunglasses were still inside, along with a broken Macbook laptop belonging to Mr Marqueti.

Williams and Mr Vickers both asked each other what they were doing in the room and Williams then ran off, pushing Mr Vickers aside after a short scuffle.

CCTV showed Williams and a friend wandering around the complex before he climbed in the window. It also showed him running out of the accommodation block through a bike shed.

Williams told the jury he was planning to visit a female student who lived in a different part of the complex. He assumed she was out and planned to wait for her after climbing into the window.

He said he was tidying up when he was confronted by Mr Vickers and panicked when he realised his mistake.

He said he believed he was in F block and only realised he was in B Block when he had climbed into the window and it was too late to back out.

He said he had no intention of stealing anything and his trespass into the room was accidental.