Hull crook caught with DNA found at scene after he took bite out of cucumber Billy Joe Donnelly burgled greenhouse and home in August Ransacked couple's house and caught after leaving DNA Sentenced to two and a half years in jail after pleading guilty A peckish crook was caught by police after he took a bite out of a cucumber and left it at the scene of the crime. Billy Joe Donnelly, 22, burgled a greenhouse and sampled the owner's home-grown produce - leaving his DNA all over it. Sentencing him to two and a half years in jail at Hull Crown Court, Judge Michael Mettyear said: 'You were caught by a cucumber.' Burglar Billy Joe Donnelly was caught after he took a bite out of a cucumber and left it at the scene Donnelly ate a variety of produce and then burgled the home on August 21. Prosecuting, Jharna Jobes said: 'The owner was going to sell the items he was growing in the greenhouse, but someone had been in there and eaten most of the vegetables and a cucumber. A cucumber was found with his DNA on it. The occupants were in bed asleep at the time and there must have been some planning involved in this. Donnelly then broke into the house next to the greenhouse in the village of Preston by breaking a window. He ransacked the house, stealing treasured possessions including the retirement watch of the owner. His wife woke up to discover her car was missing. In a victim impact statement, the couple said they now felt they needed to sell their home of more than 20 years because they no longer felt safe. They said: 'It has been very distressing. He stole two keyrings, which were of sentimental value given to me by my mother after my father died in 1972. Donnelly, of Wimbourne Close, Bransholme, Hull, also stole £77 of meat from a shop. When the police arrested him on August 25, two cannabis plants were found in his airing cupboard. He pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to two burglaries, theft and to producing cannabis. His barrister Stephen Robinson said: 'The burglary has had a profound effect on the complainants. He was just not thinking about that at the time. He is sorry for what has happened and he bitterly regrets his actions. He had been drinking heavily at the time and was riding around on his bike when he entered the greenhouse and he ate some of the produce from there. It was foolish behaviour and he was identified by a cucumber. Donnelly has previous convictions for a burglary and shop thefts. Donnelly was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail by Judge Michael Mettyear at Hull Crown Court The judge told him: 'Burglaries are regarded as serious by the courts because, often, people who are the victims sometimes never fully recover from what happens to them and they have been in this case. They have been left so upset by what has happened they are going to have to move. It is absolutely ghastly and why courts regard it as so serious. I have absolutely no doubt you were out looking for something to do and the consequences have been ghastly. He added: 'Only custody can be justified the only question is how long the sentence should be. The only real mitigation was your plea of guilty.