Bungling burglar Taylor Oldham made it very easy for the police to discover who broke into a house.

The 29-year-old took a pot of white paint to smash into the property in Coombe Road, Gravesend, on October 9 last year.

But the clumsy intruder spilled the liquid, trod in it and left footmarks through the house.

Then, Maidstone Crown Court heard, he took two knives from the kitchen and then cut his hand leaving blood stains on a chest of drawers – which led detectives to Oldham.

Judge Martin Huseyin said: "This is incompetence and amateurish."

Oldham, of Chesterton Road, Plaistow, east London, got away with £3,820 in cash, together with £200 perfume, a mobile phone and jewellery.

The court heard it was the family's teenage daughter who arrived home first to find paint on the floor and a trail leading inside the house, which had been ransacked.

Oldham was arrested a month later and found to be wearing tracksuit bottoms still stained with the paint.

The judge heard Oldham had travelled from his home in the capital to Gravesend to carry out the raid.

Adrian Rohard, defending, said his client was now turning around his life after previously getting involved in a drugs gang.

He was now studying martial arts in the hope of becoming a personal trainer.

The judge suspended a 15-month jail sentence for two years and ordered him to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work for the community.

Oldham, who admitted burglary, was also given a six-week curfew to remain at home between 8pm and 6am.

Judge Huseyin added: "This burglary must have been pretty awful for the householder because you made a right mess of their home - especially for the child who came home to find out about the break-in."

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