A burglar was caught because he spat on the ground in a young mum's back garden before he broke in.

Victoria Holpin, 34, arrived home to find £5,500 worth of her treasured belongings stolen - and then spotted the spit on the lawn just outside her back door.

Realising it could be a vital clue for the police, she covered the patch of spittle with a kitchen bowl to protect it from the rain and preserve it for forensic analysis.

Police scientists later matched the spit with 49-year-old Anthony Stephen's DNA and yesterday he was convicted of burglary and jailed for three-and-a-half years.

At Gloucester Crown Court Judge Jamie Tabor QC also ordered £125 found in Stephen's possession when he was locked up should be given to mum-of-one Miss Holpin as compensation.

Stephen, of Tarrington Road, Gloucester, had denied breaking into Miss Holpin's home in Tuffley, Gloucester, between May 29 and June 1 last year and stealing two TVs, jewellery and other electrical items.

He took Swarovski jewellery her late dad Keith had given her as well as her engagement ring - and even swiped her daughter Freya's piggy bank and christening bracelet.

Prosecutor Janine Wood said there was no forensic evidence Stephen had been in the house.

But his spit was on a patch of grassy earth 18" from the window alongside the back door which was broken to gain entry.

The only access to the garden was through the house or by climbing over the rear garden fence, she said.


Apart from the spittle, the only other evidence against Stephen was that during that weekend a neighbour had seen two men loading what looked like a TV into a black Ford Ka parked close to Victoria's house.

Police discovered Stephen owned an 11-year-old Ford Ka but police could not establish it was definitely his, because although the neighbour took a photo of it on his phone the registration number was too fuzzy to make out.

Jailing Stephen, Judge Tabor said: "She says this burglary has emotionally damaged her considerably.

"You showed her no mercy. I shall show you no mercy. This was deliberate, planned and unneccessary."

Stephen had claimed he only went into Miss Holpin's back garden in his quest for scrap that he could scavenge and sell.

He said he had habit of spitting and must have done it when he was looking around - but he denied breaking in.

The jury heard scientific evidence that there was a billion to one chance of the spittle coming from anyone other than Stephen.

After Stephen was convicted Victoria told the judge how the raid had changed her life and made it very difficult for her to trust anyone.

"I live alone with my daughter and this has left me wondering if I could ever protect her," she said tearfully in the witness box.

"My dad worked very hard all his life because we were not a rich family and he saved up to buy me things.

"Now they have gone. I cannot pass on my engagement ring to my daughter from her father because that has also gone.

"I check my house every time I go home just to make sure the window and door are not open and it has happened again.

"It has ruined my life. It has left me scared. I have never experienced anything like it in my life before and I hope I never will again. "

Judge Tabor praised her for having the presence of mind to preserve the spit and said: "If he had not spat on the ground his experience is such that he left no other forensic trace in the house and he would have got away with it."

The judge heard Stephen had 15 previous criminal convictions for 37 offences including several non-domestic burglaries.

Outside court Victoria said "I'm really pleased with the sentence he got. I was worried he might not even be convicted.

"I really thought for a long time that they would never be able to catch him because months went past before they got the DNA evidence and arrested him. "

She said that among the valuables stolen by Stephen was a rare Austrian crystal pendant identical to one also given to her mother by her dad, who died in 2004.


Culled from mirror.co.uk

Ok

Good. .... .karma has catch up with him, remaining some of our former /present ministers, commissioners and senators