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A twisted burglar who soiled his victim’s bed, ransacked his home and stole his car was jailed for three years.

Teesside’s most senior judge told Jack Rutley, 20, that he might have thought it was funny when he smeared his excrement on the man’s bedsheets.

But the disgusting mess rebounded on him because Scenes of Crime officers were able to use it to identify him from his DNA on their records.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, sent him to prison saying: “You may have thought it entirely amusing at the time, of course, but it was your undoing, and in my view that was a very serious aspect of the case.”

Read more Read the latest crime stories from across Teesside

Prosecuter David Crook told Teesside Crown Court that the bedding had to be destroyed after the discovery at the house in Middlesbrough on September 19 last year.

He read out a Victim Impact Statement from the man, who lived there alone: “I am upset and disgusted that the defendant had defecated in my home.”

Graham Brown, defending, said Rutley and his family were disgusted by his actions.

Mr Brown added: “We accept that the sentence likely to be passed is one only of custody.

“He has no previous convictions for burglary recorded against him.

“He has a supportive family who are ashamed of what he has done. He pleaded guilty and I accept that the evidence was such that there was no alternative to it.”

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Mr Crook said the man had packed his VW Passat car with stock to take to a car boot sale before he went out, returning in the early hours to find the vehicle had gone and his house had been ransacked.

A neighbour’s CCTV showed two men driving off in it and returning later. The car was also filmed at a filling station where the driver, Rutley, drove off without paying for petrol and diesel.

Police also arrested a second man whose fingerprint was found on some of the stolen property.

Tyrone Ackerman, 29, denied he was involved in the burglary but admitted being driven by Rutley in the Passat.

Rachel Dyson, defending him, said that he was aware at the time that the goods were stolen but he did not know they came from a domestic burglary.

Rutley, of Wand Hill Gardens, Saltburn, was jailed for 36 months, including 32 months for the burglary, after he pleaded guilty to burglary, taking without consent and making off without payment.

Ackerman, of Cedarmoor Gardens, Stainton, was jailed for 37 weeks after he pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and being carried in a car taken without consent.