POLICE want to talk to a man who inadvertently took a picture of himself on a mobile phone that had been reported lost or stolen.

A 36-year-old man from Grays lost his mobile phone near to the Tesco Express store on Southend Road at 8pm on Monday, November 25.

But the HTC phone has a security app installed and so when the handset’s PIN number was entered incorrectly a number of times, it took photographs of a man who was in possession of it.

Those pictures were sent back to the phone owners computer, who passed them onto the police.

Pc Adam Halleron, the investigating officer, said: "We don’t know if the man pictured inadvertently picked up the lost handset or is someone who stole it. We need to identify them or need them to contact us to see whether we can eliminate him from our criminal investigation."

The man - or anyone who knows him - is urged to contact investigating officers at Grays police station on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.