A BUNGLING burglar was caught after he left his blood on a safe during a botched raid at a family home in Worcester.

Craig Fewtrell was jailed for the £6,000 plus burglary at a three bedroomed semi-detached house in Keats Avenue in the city's Blanquettes estate.

He made off with cash and high value watches after smashing his way inside and using tools he stole from the garage to break into a safe.

The 39-year-old of Selsey Close, Worcester, had already admitted the burglary, which took place on Saturday, March 25, when he appeared before judge Nicolas Cartwright to be sentenced on Friday.

Lal Amarasinghe, prosecuting, said the family left the house at around 2.30pm but returned at 11pm to discover they had been burgled.

Fewtrell had tried to get in through a ground floor window and sliding door but eventually gained entry through a utility door which was smashed.

During a search of the house Fewtrell stole the owner’s wallet, £20 and then took a hammer and crowbar from the garage to break into the safe, stealing £2,500 in cash and three watches worth £3,650 which were of sentimental value, one of them an eighteenth birthday present.

Mr Amarasinghe said: “Blood was found on the safe and wall in the living room. That was analysed, coming back to the defendant.”

Officers attended the defendant's address at 9am on April 5 and he was arrested and interviewed.

Mr Amarasinghe said: “He denied involvement and could not offer an explanation as to how his blood was found there.”

Victim personal statements were read out to the court. The first person to discover the burglary was a 15 year-old boy who had been left ‘worried and apprehensive’ about returning home.

The homeowner said he had been ‘sickened’ by the burglary, telling police the watches had been of sentimental value, one an eighteenth birthday present and another a limited edition which he was unlikely to be able to replace.

He had also had to pay £600 on a burglar alarm system to protect his home and, though insured, had had to pay the excess.

Because Fewtrell had nine previous burglary matters on his record, beginning in 1993, he was liable for a minimum term sentence. He had already been jailed for five years in 2007 for burglary and for 16 months, also for burglary, in 2012.

Michael Aspinall, defending, said Fewtrell had been addicted to heroin since the age of 15 but had remained drug free for nearly four years and had attended Swanswell and Narcotics Anonymous on a voluntary basis.

Mr Aspinall said Fewtrell, a father-of-two, had been affected by the deaths of two people who had been close to him and had started taking cocaine.

He added: "He's let himself down but most of all he's let his family and children down. He's remorseful and has given to me today an application to go on the restorative justice scheme."

Fewtrell was supported at court by his sister and ex-partner.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright, sentencing, said burglary was a particularly mean offence and that Fewtrell had made a 'concerted effort; to break first into the house and then the safe, carrying out an untidy search including of the master bedroom and a child's bedroom.

However, he said he was impressed that Fewtrell wanted to take place in the restorative justice programme and gave him credit for his guilty plea though it had not been entered at the first opportunity.

He sentenced him to 32 months in prison with time already spent in custody on remand counting towards the sentence.

DI Stuart Murphy of Priority CID at West Mercia Police said after the hearing said burglary was a crime that could deeply affect people and those close to them.

He said: "This is not only in the light of an intruder invading your own home but because the property they steal from you in many cases is of great sentimental value.

"It's a great pity that we can't reunite the victim of crime with their personal effects though we do our best to locate the stolen property."

He urged homeowners to take photographs of their valuables and use ultraviolet marking to help police identify them and return them to their rightful owner.