Trail of blood put car thief behind bars

A bungling thief who left a trail of blood behind him after a botched attempt to break into a car has been jailed for 10 months.

Wahid Ali, 38, was spotted prowling the Sainsbury’s car park in Roden Street, Ilford, in January trying his luck tugging at the handles of various cars inside.

Police officers approached Ali and found he was carrying a yellow screwdriver with him.

Just under a month later on 19 February, a driver returning to his black Vauxhall Corsa parked in Tennyson Avenue, in nearby Forest Gate, found that one of the windows had been smashed.

Ali was eventually arrested after blood left at the scene led officers straight to him.

He pleaded guilty to offences of going equipped for theft and interfering with a motor vehicle and was committed to Snaresbrook Crown Court for sentence.

Ali was jailed for 12 months at Snaresbrook Crown Court for multiple charges of theft from a motor vehicle in December 2014.

Judge John Lafferty told him: ‘If you do not stop the drugs and this type of offending it is only going to lead to one direction and that is a premature death because no-one is healthy taking drugs.

‘You should really try to do yourself a favour – stop doing the drugs, stop offending, and spend more time outside than you have in the last eight years.’

Ali, of (1) Griffin Manor, Plumstead, southeast London, was jailed for eight months for going equipped for theft with two months consecutive for interfering with a motor vehicle,
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