Ananova:

Thieves who tried to steal £200,000 from Ricky Gervais were caught after they used a picture of his Office character David Brent in a fake passport.

The comedian said the thieves tried to transfer money from his bank account to buy gold bullion, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But they were caught after turning up to collect the gold with a 'David Brent' picture cut from a DVD cover.

Mr Gervais, 48, said he was told of the scam in a phone call from his bank, which needed his permission to involve police.

After the criminals were arrested Mr Gervais said he was contacted by a police officer.

He recalled: "I said, 'How did they think they were going to get away with it? He said, 'They normally get a passport from either a dead man or steal one and replace it with your details and your picture.'

"The CID man started smirking, so I went, 'What?' and he showed me this passport. We were laughing for ten minutes. All they did was cut out the picture on the first series of The Office DVD!

"So it's a picture of David Brent sitting at a desk with that little smug look on his face!"

Mr Gervais added: "Can you imagine who was in charge of getting the photo? 'Dave, you're doing so and so. Julie you're on the inside. Bertie - can you get a picture? What are you going to HMV for?'"