A would-be burglar was caught after he stepped in dog poo and left a footprint on the window sill of a Carlisle family’s home.
Brian Harold, then aged 19, committed a string of night time crimes in residential city areas with an older accomplice.
Those offences included the attempted burglary of a family’s house at Kirkstead Close, in the Belle Vue area.
At around 8am on August 27, a husband and wife noted that their shed door was open.
Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told Carlisle Crown Court of the wife: “When she examined the outside of the property, she could see a garden chair had been positioned under the window sill of a window.
“She also noticed there was an amount of dog faeces around the exterior of the property. On the window sill there was a footprint in that dog faeces which police subsequently examined and found it to be a match to footwear worn by Mr Harold on the night in question.”
It emerged Harold, now 20, and his partner-in-crime had been active in other locations the same night.
Tools, worth around £650, had been stolen from a work van. In the same area, keys and a silver ring were stolen by the two men — including Harold. CCTV captured two individuals getting into the Ford Focus and rifling through the glovebox.
And Harold was also involved as a wooden wishing well was stolen from outside a house and dumped in another residential road.
“This was, in essence, a spree of offending,” said Mr Rogerson.
Harold provided mainly no comment answers when questioned by police. But he had, said his solicitor, Marion Weir, accepted the crime spree simply should not have happened.
“He knows and recognises that he faces sentence for some serious offending,” said Ms Weir. Harold, she added, was easily influenced by peers but was remorseful, had addressed substance misuse and was keen to stay out of trouble.
Harold admitted attempted burglary, three counts of theft and, in addition, three offences of vehicle interference which also occurred early on August 27.
Judge Nicholas Barker accepted Harold had been a secondary but willing participant along with the more heavily-convicted accomplice, who will be sentenced in due course.
The judge also noted Harold had spent a month on remand in Durham prison which the defendant had described as a wake-up call.
Judge Barker imposed an 18-month community order. Harold must complete a building choices course, rehabilitation work and 150 hours of community service.
Of the burglary bid, the judge told Harold, of Boundary Road, Carlisle: “You were detected because of a print in dog excrement that was recovered from a window sill.”
