Crumb Scene Investigation
Burglar caught after leaving a nibbled biccy at crime site
A DIM-witted burglar was captured by cops after leaving a half-eaten biscuit at the scene of his crime.
Michael Metcalfe was jailed for 12 months after stealing more than £ 4,000 worth of goods when he ransacked a pensioner’s home.
But police went straight to his door after DNA was recovered from saliva on the nibbled lebkuchen – a Germanstyle gingerbread cookie.
Metcalfe, 33, broke into the 85-year-old’s home while he was away for the weekend, Teesside crown court heard.
Vicki Lamballe, prosecuting, said the pensioner found the half-eaten biscuit on the floor when he returned from a weekend away.
She said: “None of the goods were recovered. Saliva on the biscuit was used to identify the defendant.” The victim said he no longer felt safe in his home, where he had lived for 70 years.
Metcalfe, of Hartlepool, Co Durham, admitted burglary on June 15. Stephen Constantine, in mitigation, said his client had been taking heroin so had no recollection of the burglary.
Recorder Richard Woolfall told Metcalfe: “You searched every room, items were strewn all over the place, you even went as far as stealing his biscuits. You stole a £ 3,000 Hasselblad camera, it was unlikely that you knew the value of these items. I accept you saw something shiny that could be sold to pay for your drugs and you stole it.”
Metcalfe appeared before Teesside crown court in 2015. He was jailed for nine months having absconded from prison, where he was serving seven years for his part in a brutal samurai sword attack.