A “high-stakes” burglar who stole more than £20,000 of copper cable from a salad factory was ultimately snared by DNA evidence on a Coca Cola bottle he left on the roof.

Prolific thief John Marshall, 28, broke into Selby Salads in Brigg Lane, Camblesforth, three times in a fortnight last December, York Crown Court heard.

He and an unidentified man drove to the site in Marshall's uninsured and unlicensed car at night, with cutting equipment.

Prosecutor Richard Canning said in the first break-in, at 9.30pm on December 3, the men broke into the greenhouse and office by smashing a window. They stole cable from a security light and fled.

Just over a week later, the men targeted the warehouse at night, when it was unoccupied and up for sale. They stole cabling and fled, but this time a CCTV monitoring firm spotted the break-in and called police.

Officers found two Coca Cola bottles and cutting gear.

“Subsequent DNA evidence showed it was the defendant’s DNA left on the coke bottle,” said Mr Canning.

Four days later, the security monitoring company alerted police again after spotting two men on CCTV. The burglars fled before police arrived, but officers followed a car seen leaving the site and stopped it a short distance away.

Mr Canning said Marshall was arrested but for some reason his partner-in-crime was never charged.

Mr Canning said £22,000 of cable had been stolen in total and £4,000 of damage caused to the buildings.

Marshall, of Prospect Row, Selby, admitted three counts of burglary.

The married father-of-one had 35 previous convictions for 72 offences dating back 12 years. He had been in and out of prison since 2008 for offences including theft, handling stolen copper and multiple burglaries.

In 2011, he was given a two-year jail sentence and put on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years after he admitted sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl.

Defence counsel Angus Taylor said Marshall had a “shameful” criminal record but was now earning good money through his business dismantling and rebuilding motorbikes, and was the family’s sole breadwinner.

Judge Paul Batty QC said the burglaries constituted “serious, professional crime” and that Marshall had been “playing for high stakes”.

“You were one of a gang (and) I have no doubt that you would have continued to plunder the premises had the police not finally arrested you,” added Mr Batty.

However, the judge said he could take the unusual step of suspending the inevitable jail sentence because Marshall was “apparently trying to turn over a new leaf”, had offered belated guilty pleas and was running his own business.

Marshall was given a two-year suspended prison sentence with 250 hours’ unpaid work and a six-month nightly curfew. He also had six points added to his licence for driving with no insurance or licence.