A PROLIFIC burglar was caught after his fingerprint was found on a bottle of Baileys liqueur.

Joshua Leese, aged 19, pleaded guilty to three burglaries that had all been carried out on the same night and asked for 11 more to be taken into account at Warrington Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard how on December 23 it was discovered that a shed, garage and house, all at different properties in Callands, had been broken into.

Bikes worth around £1,270 were taken from the shed while mobile phones, laptops alcohol and a large quantity of fishing equipment worth around £6,400 in total were taken from the house.

But Leese, of Sandy Lane West, Orford, met his downfall when he broke into the garage, stealing a bike worth around £200.

Mandy Nepal, prosecuting, said: “A cool bag containing bottles of alcohol was discovered in the middle of the garage floor.

“When forensics examined the bottle of Baileys they discovered a fingerprint. This was later traced to the defendant who was arrested on January 4.”

Paulinus Barnes, defending, told the court that Leese had a difficult family life and had spent his teenage years either in care or detained.

He said: “He has got to realise if he carries on offending at this rate he will spend a large portion of his adult life in prison.”

Judge Raj Shetty sentenced Leese to three years in a young offenders’ institute.

He said: “You are a prolific burglar who took part in a spate of burglaries.

“You entered somebody’s home where they live and stole a huge amount of property including fishing equipment which the victim had accumulated over the course of 30 years.

“You and your friends thought nothing of taking that from him.”