Peterborough burglar jailed after leaving blood at the scene of the crime

William Fletcher, 37, was arrested on 14 January in connection with a burglary at Enterprise Rent A Car in Newark Road on 20 December.

Officers were alerted to the burglary after an alarm was activated just after 1am. On arrival they found a window had been smashed to gain entry.

Inside they found a key safe had been damaged, as well as another one missing, and a blind ripped down from a window which was located outside with spots of blood on it.

A sample of the blood came back as a match to Fletcher who was arrested but later released on bail.

On 24 January Fletcher, of Flore Close in Westwood, was arrested in connection with a separate matter which resulted in no further action being taken, however he was recalled to prison.

On 19 May he was summonsed to court charged with burglary with intent to steal.

DC Lee Womack said: “Thanks to the work of our scenes of crime officers (SOCO) we were able to place Fletcher at the scene of the crime. This conviction was a joint effort from the officers who initially attended the report, to SOCO recovering forensics, the Impact Team making the arrest and CID carrying out the investigation.

“A great example of a collective team approach within the police family, bringing an offender to justice.”

On Thursday (13 August), Fletcher appeared at Cambridge Crown Court where he was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison.