A DNA trace recovered from a discarded cigarette filter helped put a burglar back behind bars.
Reece Kitching, 35, came to police attention on 20 July last year when he fled the scene of a road traffic collision on the A60.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the car he had been driving was stolen earlier that day after access was gained to the home of a relative on Washington Court, Arnold.
Kitching, who was detained near the scene of the collision, was also found to be more than three times the legal alcohol limit when breathalysed at the roadside.
During a forensic examination of the address, officers recovered a cigarette filter that Kitching had discarded while inside the property to obtain a spare key.
Although his exact method of entry remains unknown, the DNA evidence helped place him inside the address.
Kitching claimed the cigarette could have been left there during a previous visit, but he later pleaded guilty to burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, failing to stop after a road traffic collision, drink-driving, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance.
He also pleaded guilty to theft following an incident at a hotel in Radford on 12 November, where he stole food and drink from a communal area.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday 28 April, Kitching, of no fixed address, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and disqualified from driving.
PC Catherine Stafford, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“Kitching has an unenviable criminal history and seemed to think he could get away with taking this vehicle in the way he did.
“Unfortunately for him, a low-level traffic collision proved to be his undoing.
“Thanks to a full and thorough investigation, Kitching had little choice but to plead guilty.”
