A BUNGLING burglar has been jailed after leaving a used tissue at the scene of the crime.

Simon Sewell – who at the age of 42 has 65 convictions for 169 offences – was involved in a raid on V.S Rail Ltd in West Moors, in which more than £8,000–worth of tools were taken.

The defendant, who admitted a charge of burglary, claimed that he had become involved in the theft in order to pay off a drugs debt, and had not financially benefitted from the raid.

Prosecutor Mark Ruffell said items including angle grinders, chainsaws, torches, generators, spanners and more were stolen in the “targeted” burglary, discovered on May 30 this year.

“The police took this very seriously and conducted a full forensic search,” he said.

“They found a tissue that was sent for analysis, and the defendant’s DNA was on it.”

Leslie William Smith, mitigating at Bournemouth Crown Court, said Sewell had been seeking to address a long-standing drug addiction, adding that he had turned back to heroin after his methadone script was cancelled.

“He runs up a debt of £600, and is told he can extinguish it if he drives a van to a burglary,” he said. “Once there, he is ordered to carry things to the van.”

Sewell is currently the only person to be charged in connection with the offence, although at least one other is thought to be involved.

Describing his client as “not the sharpest tool in the box”, Mr Smith said many of the defendant’s previous convictions were for less profitable thefts.

“His offending is usually of the sort where he will steal out of skips,” he said.

Sentencing the defendant, of Sterte Road in Poole, to 28 months behind bars, Judge John Harrow said his record made for “depressing” reading. He said the burglary had the “hallmarks of a semi-professional job”, and he must “pay the consequences”.