A HOMELESS man who beat a carpark attendant with a wooden stave and stole £2,000 in cash has been jailed for five years thanks to DNA evidence on his weapon.
Peter Dalton of no fixed abode, but last known to live in Braintree, burst in to the carpark attendant's hut at Bishop's Stortford railway station, along with another man who threatened the worker with a knife, on December 9 last year.
The pair wore balaclavas but were identified after the badly bruised carpark attendant grappled with his attackers and pulled off Dalton's mask, scratching his face.
This balaclava and weapon were both left at the crime scene, providing detectives with enough DNA evidence to trace Dalton.
The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to robbery at St Albans Crown Court on July 1 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
A British Transport Police investigation was led by Detective Constable Mark Tabbron, who said: "Just after 9am Dalton and another man burst into the car park attendant's hut and demanded cash.
"Dalton then beat the member of staff with a wooden stave, which left him badly bruised. The second man threatened him with a knife before he handed £2,000 in cash.
"During the struggle, the attendant managed to pull Dalton's balaclava off and scratch him across the face.
"The balaclava and wooden stave were also both left at the crime scene, providing three main pieces of evidence.
"Swabs taken from under the victims finger nails, the balaclava and the wooden stave, all found a match for Dalton on the national DNA database."
Dalton was arrested on February 26, but initially denied all knowledge of the crime when interviewed by detectives.
He was later charged with robbery on May 28 and bailed to appear at court on Friday, June 13.
However, he failed to appear at the hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest, before Dalton handed himself into police on Monday, June 30 and appeared in court the next day.
Dalton was also sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for failure to answer bail, to be served concurrently and fined £120 victim surcharged.
DC Tabbron added: "This was a planned and violent robbery that left the victim injured and very shaken.
"Through the hard work of our scientific support unit, we were able to identify Dalton and bring him to justice. This sends a clear message to other violent criminals, that we will use always fully investigate such offences."
