Bungling burglar who struck in Shropshire and Mid Wales left DNA on whisky bottle
A thief responsible for burglaries in Shropshire and Mid Wales was caught after he took a swig from a bottle of whisky at a pub he was raiding.
Police found DNA from the saliva that Jonathan Highton left on the bottle at The Eagle and Spur public house in Kidderminster.
Highton, 36, admitted burglary at the pub in September of last year together with a house burglary at Gilfach Foel, Welshpool, and at the home of a retired couple at Shrewsbury.
He was jailed for two and a half years when he appeared at Mold Crown Court yesterday.
His barrister John Hedgecoe told the court: "He was leading a pretty shambolic life-style and drinking too much.
"He took a drink during the burglary and in the state he was in, left the bottle on the bar with his DNA appropriately attached."
Judge Rhys Rowlands said property had been stolen and the landlady was asleep upstairs when the burglary took place.
At Gilfach Goch a woman returned to the family home to find a window smashed, the property ransacked and keys and valuable property stolen.
In Shrewsbury a retired couple went for a short break and while they were away a garden ornament was thrown through a window and valuable property stolen.
The judge dismissed as "nonsense" Highton's claim that he had simply been on a day out when the offences were committed.
He and others had targeted properties in the area, he said.
Prosecutor Jonathan Austin said that in the early hours the defendant, of Tipton near Dudley, and others burgled the pub after gaining entry through the fire exit.
It was discovered by the cleaner at 6am and the landlady, who lived in the flat upstairs, had heard a noise at 2am.
Spirits valued at £500 had been taken.
"He must have taken a swig from a bottle of whisky left on the bar because his DNA was found upon it," he explained.
