Balaclava DNA leads police to 21-year-old car thief
A 21-year-old man has been jailed for 15 months after a balaclava with traces of his DNA was found in a stolen car.
The VW Golf was taken from its owner in a car key burglary on September 27 last year and police inquiries led officers to Hurst Lane, Tipton, where the £20,000 vehicle was found parked on false plates on October 7, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
A balaclava found in the vehicle carried the DNA of Declan Ford and his fingerprints were on a CD case inside the car, explained Mr Hunter Grey, prosecuting. CCTV filmed him parking it there two days earlier.
He was traced to the Park Inn Hotel in Bescot Crescent, Walsall where he had been staying and CCTV showed him arriving in a Skoda despite being banned from driving.
Ford was not at the hotel when officers got there but was tracked down and arrested on November 15, the court heard.
Mr Graeme Logan, defending, said the defendant did not have a good criminal record but wanted to change his life because he was soon to become a father.
He has split with his former partner but she has said she has no problems with him playing a role in the upbringing of his daughter as long as he "sorts his life out," added Mr Logan.
Ford, from Kielder Close, Walsall, admitted handling stolen property and two cases of driving while disqualified.
He was jailed by Judge Michael Challinor who also banned him from driving for 18 months on release.
