An autistic man hyperfocusing on his special interest has failed to notice the passage of time, his basic bodily needs, and the gang of hoodlums ransacking his home, authorities have claimed. 

Jack Harrington, 42, who started building a homemade automatic plant-watering system earlier this morning, became so absorbed that he forgot to eat, pee or prevent opportunistic thieves from conspicuously emptying his home right in front of him. 

Speaking from an entirely empty house, bar the ESP32 microcontroller he happened to be working on at the time, Harrington commented: “What burglars…? Wait, where’s all my stuff? Why am I in my underpants?”

“Still, at least I finished my plant-watering system,” Harrington continued, holding up his contraption. “Unfortunately, there are no plants left to water.”

“They could have at least left me a snack and some bog roll,” Harrington continued. “And why they took my clothes is anybody’s guess.”

Burglar Robert Noot, 25, said: “Honestly? We just wanted to see if we could.”

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