Hard cheese – burglar is caught by DNA

♦ A burglar was caught after leaving his DNA on a block of cheese, a court heard yesterday.

Jamie Simmonds, 29, snacked on red Leicester after targeting the home of his ex-girlfriend’s mother in a “revenge attack”.

Forensics analysed crumbs at the scene and discovered Simmonds’s genetic fingerprint on the cheese.

A court heard the burglary was an act of revenge on Molly Patterson, his ex-girlfriend.

Miss Patterson’s mother, Lynn Patterson, had been asleep in the house at the time. She woke to find broken glass and crumbs of cheese on the floor of her home in Llanedeyrn, Cardiff.

In a victim statement, Miss Patterson said: “I feel guilty because I think he did this to get back at me.

“I feel like it’s my fault. I’m sorry this has happened to my mother.”

Simmonds pleaded guilty to burglary, and was sentenced to 16 months in prison and also handed a restraining order.