A MAN has been charged with stealing lead from the roof of riot-ravaged Croydon furniture store House of Reeves.

Council CCTV cameras spotted a man on the roof of the store in Reeves Corner at 3.05am on Tuesday morning.

The images were relayed to the police, who subsequently surrounded the building.

The intruder then hid under some corrugated iron and refused to come down for four hours.

A police helicopter used thermal imaging technology to locate him and he eventually came down on his own accord and was arrested.

It later emerged that House of Reeves' back office has also been broken into.

• Ben Stentz, 23, of no fixed abode, has been charged with burglary, theft of lead and possession of a pointed and bladed article.

  He was due to appear at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court, via video link, this morning (Wednesday).