Bungling Peterborough burglar jailed after being caught out by DNA evidence - twice

Vitaly Ivanovs, 43, of Broadway, Peterborough, targeted a room in the block of flats where he lived on 16 May last year and stole a set of car keys from a bedside table.

In the early hours of the following morning police were called to reports of a man, Ivanovs, asleep in a car in Barkston Drive, Peterborough.

The witness saw him wake up and attempt, but fail, to drive off in the Volkswagen Golf.

Police arrived and the car was recovered, with the driver having fled. It was dented and both tyres were flat. Ten scratch cards were found inside together with a baseball cap with attached ear plugs and a blue t-shirt.

Ivanov was subsequently linked to the car by DNA after a partial match was found on the baseball cap.

He was later voluntarily interviewed but claimed he wasn’t involved in the burglary and had bought the car from a man he knew only as ‘Alan’.

The following day however, Ivanov was forensically linked to the scene of the burglary after his fingerprint was found on the window pane of the address. Despite this, Ivanov still denied the offence.

Ivanov was caught out a second time after a suspicious tradesman, who was renovating a house in Lindridge Walk, Peterborough, found him inside at just before noon on 29 June last year.

The tradesman knew Ivanovs wasn’t related to the homeowners, so took the downstairs patio door key from him.

He also discovered a bag of items, containing a selection of knives, a tap, a copper pipe and a metal door hook, which Ivanov had stolen from an outside shed.

The owners were phoned and when they arrived home, they discovered the lock on the outside shed had been taken off and items were scattered around – including in their living room.

Ivanov, who was wearing slippers, claimed he was sleeping at the house because he didn’t have a job but police were called and he was arrested.

In interview he admitted entering the house to sleep, with no intention to steal, but once he was inside he had changed his mind.

He claimed to have looked around the house and noticed items he could sell, and had entered the shed to look for a blanket, towel and pillow to help him sleep.

As a result of the two offences, Ivanov was charged with three counts of burglary and theft of a motor vehicle. He was also charged with possessing amphetamine, a class B drug, when arrested on a separate occasion.

He pleaded guilty to the offences at a previous hearing and was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (29 January), where he was handed two years and two months in prison.

DS Adam Blake, who investigated, said: “As a result of the vital work of our forensic teams we were able to place Ivanovs at the scene of the crime in the first offence, despite him denying any knowledge and fleeing the car.

“Our appreciation must go to the tradesman in the second offence, who stumbled across Ivanovs when entering the house he was working in.”