A serial burglar really got his teeth into his offending in Mirfield.
But after he had helped himself to a stash of ice lollies and beer, in his drunken stupor his false teeth were left at the scene.
And it wasn’t until a few days later that the offender’s false gnashers were discovered by the occupant.
Justin Stansfield, 38, had already been arrested for a string of other burglaries and was traced to be the owner of the teeth.
They were discovered by Steven Pickles, 58, who found them down the side of a freezer in his garage just days after he had a crate of beer stolen.
Steven, who lives on Whitehall Avenue, said: “The garage wasn’t locked so he had sneaked in and helped himself to the beer. I reported it to police at the time and a few days later I went in the garage and found a set of false teeth down the side of the freezer.
“I managed to move them to a shelf then told the police.”
Stansfield had already been charged with other burglaries, including one in Mirfield where he disturbed a sleeping pensioner who brandished him with a walking stick.
The court heard Stansfield was a heroin addict and had been searching for items he could sell.
But because of his drunken condition told he only had a hazy recollection of the events which happened on May 19.
He asked for the further theft from the garage to be taken into consideration and was jailed for 16 months at Leeds Crown Court.
In unrelated investigations, police would like to speak to the people pictured in the image gallery below. The people pictured in the images may be witnesses as well as suspects. If you recognise anyone, contact police on 101 quoting the reference number on the image caption.
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