Thirsty pub burglar nicked

A pub burglar was caught out by his thirst for beer when police traced him by DNA left on a bottle at the scene.

Andrew Gibney was jailed for 27 months for being the getaway driver in a raid on the Black Dog pub in Newent, Gloucestershire.

He and three other men had travelled to the county from Liverpool in search of places to burgle. But he was the only one caught after asking the others to pass him a bottle of Budweiser, which he drank and discarded at the scene.

At Gloucester Crown Court, Judge William Hart said he would not have been traced if he had not been thirsty.

As the others left the car to try and get into the pub, on November 22, 2012, he asked them to bring him a drink. When they left, taking nearly £1,800 in cash, he drank the beer, leaving the bottle behind, and forensic tests found traces of his DNA.

Lisa Hennessy, prosecuting, said Gibney, of Lyme Cross Road, Liverpool said that about £1,000 in cash had been taken from a till, £580 from a large whisky bottle in the kitchen and £200 from a glass in the bar. His keys, laptop and some cigarettes were also taken.

“There was also a bottle of Budweiser beer missing from a fridge and that eventually led police to Mr Gibney. The thieves had got in by removing part of a window and the empty beer bottle, which was one of the batch in the bar fridge, was found outside, ” she said

After the hearing, landlady Sharon Ayrton said: “I was asleep at the time but my partner was awake and watching TV next to me. They came into the bedroom to demand the keys to the safe but were scared off by the dogs.

“I noticed immediately they had taken a beer bottle from the fridge and that was how the police tracked down one of the culprits. So it is all credit to the police for finding him.”