Bungling burglar left his DNA at the pub (From Thisisdorset)

Bungling burglar left his DNA at the pub

7:00pm Monday 8th February 2010 in

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A BUNGLING burglar was caught after he left incriminating evidence on the torch he used in an early morning raid.

Father-of-one Ricky Proffitt, 25, admitted burgling the Bankes Arms public house at Studland on August 9, 2008.

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Jenny Rickman said Proffitt from Brereton Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, and another man had been caught on camera ransacking the pub’s office.

“While searching a cupboard he put a torch into his mouth so he could use both his hands and left it on a box outside,” she said.

More than £7,000 was taken from a safe along with shotgun cartridges, a brass trumpet and a bag.

Miss Rickman said Proffitt and his accomplice, who has not been identified, spent about two hours in the premises before fleeing with their haul.

Proffitt was arrested in Staffordshire and admitted his guilt after his DNA was found on a swab taken from the torch.

In his defence, the court heard that Proffitt had accepted his guilt and was remorseful for his actions.

Cash-strapped, he had decided to burgle the property after meeting a stranger in the pub and being offered the opportunity to earn some money. He was paid £2,000 for his part in the crime.

Imposing a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, Recorder Michael Hubbard QC told Proffitt: “I don’t suppose, for a moment, you will ever understand the anguish you have caused in that little village and, in particular, to the people who run the pub and make it their home.

“You had the cheek to travel down to Dorset and commit this offence,” he said.

“I don’t think the residents of Dorset will want to see you again.”

He added that “a positive report” from prison, where Proffitt had already served the equivalent of a six-month sentence, had saved him from “going down.”

Proffitt was ordered to pay £3,200 in compensation to his victims.