A shoplifter looking to make a quick getaway from a Dutch supermarket after stealing a packet of meat left police a crucial piece of evidence, his 12-year-old son.

In his haste the 45-year-old thief made a solo dash to his car, batting away a supermarket worker who had flung himself on the vehicles' bonnet in a bid to stop the escape.

Police in the southern Dutch town of Kerkrade said they  managed to contact the thief via the boy, but he had refused to  return and collect his son. The man told officers to get hold of  the youngster's mother instead.

The thief later turned himself in on Thursday, a police spokeswoman said.