A bungling burglar left a trail of clues during a three-day thieving spree.

Hapless Daniel Rolfe left at least one clue, including his own blood, in all four of the break-ins he carried out.

Investigating officer Det Con Chris Price said: “Rolfe at first denied any involvement in the burglaries and denied being at any of the properties but when faced with the evidence he couldn’t deny it any longer.”

The dozy thief:
Cut himself and left blood at a furniture business.
Returned there and left with its broken glass in his pocket
Left his cigarette lighter in a crematorium break-in.
Left a baseball cap and wristband in a fourth raid.

Rolfe, 49, of Grebe Close, of Hawkinge was jailed for two years by Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday (March 6).

One both December 1 and 3 last year he targeted Bespoke Design Interiors, a furniture design and manufacturing business at Barnfield Road at Folkestone’s Park Farm Industrial Estate.

He smashed glass in a door and stole cash, a mobile phone and a fuel card. But the DNA on the blood found at the scene matched his.

On December 1 he left a lighter at the office of Hawkinge Crematorium, which was traced to him by DNA. He had broken into the premises at Aerodrome Road and stolen a donation box containing £20.

On December 3 he smashed through the back door of a property in Denmark Street, took various items of jewellery but left a baseball cap and wristband there.

Rolfe was arrested when patrolling police spotted him walking away from the second burglary at Bespoke, on December 3. When he was searched they found a piece of glass from the window inside his pocket.

Then, when officers searched his house, they found the donation box. They were able to link him to two other burglaries at the cemetery in September in which more than £400 had been stolen.

Rolfe had pleaded guilty in court on January 7.

DC Price, speaking after this week’s court hearing, said: “Hopefully this sentence will send a message that we pursue burglary suspects relentlessly, and that the courts in turn support our efforts.”