Thief caught by can of Coke
8:06pm Friday 6th July 2007 in Your Town By Edward Chadwick
A THIEF was caught by police after his DNA was found on a drinks can he left behind at the scene of the crime.
Michael Daley broke into Chortex Mill in Horwich and stripped copper wiring worth £3,000 from the walls of the disused building.
He might have got away with the burglary but for a can of Coca-Cola which he left at the scene.
Police tested the empty can for DNA and saliva samples matched to a forensic database unveiled Daley as one of the thieves.
No other offenders have been caught, but police believe at least one other man was at the scene.
Daley, aged 48, of Tudor Avenue, Farnworth, was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years at Bolton Crown Court yesterday.
Security staff noticed a break in at the former mill in Chorley Old Road on April 24 last year.
A bolt had been taken out of a gate at the now-demolished building and thieves had forced exterior doors to let themselves inside.
Hundreds of metres of wiring with a copper core were ripped from the walls and chopped up the scene, said Susan Carter, prosecuting.
Daley initially denied the burglary but entered a guilty plea after being presented with the damning DNA evidence.
He has been convicted of a string of burglary and handling stolen goods offences since 1985, the court heard.
Richard Dawson, defending, said: "Mr Daley presents something of a tragic case and relapsed in to crime following the break-up of his marriage.
Sentencing Daley, Recorded John Shaw said: "You have been before the courts on too many occasions.
"You are getting too old to be standing in this court staring down the barrel of a custodial sentence and I am giving a final chance to start living a profitable life.
