Batman: Bradford's Caped Crusader Unmasked

The likely identity of Bradford's very own Batman has been revealed.

A mystery was sparked when an anonymous man dressed in a full Batman costume handed in a suspected burglar to officers at Trafalgar House police station in Bradford.

CCTV images were released by the police in the hope of tracking down the undercover superhero.

The pictures showed a caped crusader - fully clad with the comic hero's boots, gloves and logo across his chest - standing alongside a man in a red hooded sweatshirt.

West Yorkshire police have now revealed they think the man dressed as Batman is a friend of the man who was turned in, and later arrested.

The suspect is due to appear in court on March 8 charged with handling stolen goods and fraud-related offences.

A retailer in Bradford has also come forward to say she might have sold the man his Batman outfit a few days before the incident, which happened in the early hours of February 25.

Kathryn Sutcliffe, who runs The Joke Shop in Kirkgate Market, told BBC Radio 5 Live she remembered one customer because he wanted the 1960s Caped Crusader costume rather than the more recent Dark Knight version.

She said she only sold of couple of these older outfits every year.

Mrs Sutcliffe said: "He was quite a large guy and when I saw him on the CCTV I thought, 'he looks like a similar build'.

"I was quite busy at the time. I took it out, tried it against him and he said, 'oh yes, that's fine', and then he disappeared just as quick.

"He was in his 20s, dark brown hair, a bit of stubble and quite a nice-looking lad, really."

She said the man paid with a credit card, so she has a name, but she refused to reveal it.

Batman has been around as a fictional character since 1939, usually fighting crime in Gotham City.

In the original story his alter-ego was a billionaire philanthropist who decided to devote his life to fighting crime after his parents were both murdered.