A Moray man who broke into a house and then ate his kebab has been jailed – after police used the DNA on the fork he used to track him down.
Dean Wells kicked down Claire Morris’s door to get into her home in Tower Court, Nairn, earlier this year.
The 25-year-old had been drinking with friends at the flat, but Ms Morris grew tired of her guests and kicked them out – before locking up the flat and leaving herself.
But Inverness Sheriff Court heard Wells later returned with two friends and kicked open the door.
Once inside, the 25-year-old – who has a “horrendous” record and is a notorious bird thief – ate his kebab.
Neighbours saw him breaking in and called the police, but when they arrived there was nobody at the house. However, officers discovered a plastic fork and tested it for DNA.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court: “Subsequent examination at the police forensic science laboratory at Dundee concluded that it was more than one thousand million times more likely that the DNA recovered from the fork originated from Dean Wells than from an unrelated male.”
Wells, originally of Kingsmills in Elgin, had been expected to go on trial yesterday charged with housebreaking and theft, but it was reduced to housebreaking.
He is already serving a total of 28 months in prison and his earliest release date would have been July 30 next year.
But yesterday he appeared from custody in handcuffs and plead guilty to maliciously and repeatedly kicking down the front door of the property on February 21 last year. He had an additional three months added to his existing sentence.
Sheriff David Sutherland said: “What counts against you is previous convictions. You have a horrendous record and were on bail. In all of the circumstances the only appropriate sentence is one of imprisonment.
Defence solicitor Brent Lockie said his client had undertaken a programme in prison to help with rehabilitation for drink and drugs.