Burglar caught after leaving plaster cast from broken leg behind

Most criminals wouldn’t even leave fingerprints at the scene of the crime – but the blue plaster cast dumped by serial burglar Paul Hammond was a dead giveaway. Hammond, 21, was wearing the distinctive blue cast on his leg when he broke into a house in Campden Road, Cheltenham, in September. Among the property he took from the house was a set of keys to the owner’s silver Peugeot car, which he took.
Prosecutor David Maunder told Gloucester Crown Court that Hammond, of Bramley Road, lost control of the car a few miles away in Churchdown and crashed into a fence. Fearing that his cast would slow him down, Hammond cut if off and left it at the scene as he hobbled away, Mr Maunder said. But the limping figure of the burglar was seen by a neighbor who reported to police that the wanted man had something wrong with his leg.

One of the officers who attended the incident knew Hammond and was aware he currently had his leg in cast. When the Pc saw the blue leg plaster lying on the road he put two and two together and went to Hammond’s mother’s home – where he found him, minus his plaster. Some of the loot from the burglary was found and Hammond was arrested. Hammond pleaded guilty to burglary of the house and aggravated vehicle taking.

He also asked for six other offenses of theft and garden shed burglaries to be taken into consideration. Recorder Karol Lasok said he had decided to follow the recommendation of a pre-sentence report and give Hammond a “last chance” to get his life in order. He sentenced Hammond to a two-year community order with supervision, a nine-month drug rehabilitation requirement and 20 days on an education and employment training course. He also banned him from driving for a year.