A burglar who left blood at the crime scene and was then spotted by a woman who gave his description to police has been jailed.
Richard Foster, 52, committed the crime at Carlisle’s Specsavers store in the city centre on March 4, the city’s magistrates’ court heard today.
A woman was walking through the nearby cathedral grounds. She noticed a man walk past her and drop a pair of glasses which she picked up and handed back to him.
As he wandered away, the woman then headed towards Specsavers on Castle Street where she saw a glass door panel had been smashed with a rock.
The woman also saw pairs of glasses on the ground and gave the man’s description to police.
Investigators found specks of blood on broken glass and display shelves at the store. Swabs were taken and provided a match to Foster, who admitted burglary and the theft of £2,300-worth of property.
From the dock, homeless Foster said: “I plead guilty but I’ve no recollection of it.”
A man with 128 previous offences to his name, he had battled alcohol issues which, said a lawyer who gave brief mitigation for him, had blighted his life.
Foster was given a six-month prison term. “I am told that you don’t remember committing the offence. You obviously did which is why you have pleaded guilty to it,” t deputy district judge Anna Moran said to Foster as she passed sentence.
“In all the circumstances, the only sentence that can be justified is immediate imprisonment.”
