BURGLARS who ransacked a house, drilled through gas pipes and left live electrical wires hanging loose remain uncaught – despite police having DNA evidence for a suspect.

Gerald Dargle, the owner of the cottage in Cradley, near Malvern, is still furious after receiving a letter from West Mercia Police 10 months after the burglary saying there was “insufficient evidence”

to charge anyone in connection with the case.

This is despite the one item of evidence being found in the house – a section of electrical tape – implicating a known burglar.

Detective Sergeant Chris Watson said: “Unfortunately, this single piece of evidence would not reach the burden of proof needed for a successful prosecution.”

He said Hereford CID had “done all it could to investigate the theft of copper piping experienced by Mr Dargle” and had kept him closely informed.

Mr Dargle is upset no one will be charged, believing if had he switched on his lights on discovering the burglary he risked blowing himself up from an electrical spark igniting the escaped gas.

“I read the meter afterwards and I worked out 80 cubic metres of gas had escaped,” he said.

Copper piping from the heating system and electrical wiring had been removed, but the gas pipes had also been tampered with most likely as the burglar had intended to remove them.

Mr Dargle had been renovating the cottage at the time of the burglary last November.

He is particularly unhappy no one was charged after a suspect’s DNA was found on the electrical tape.

A man was arrested but released without charge.

“They said the reason for it was the tape was a movable item, which is ridiculous – who else would have put it there?” he said.

“If you found a piece of tape wrapped three times round your gas pipes then surely that is evidence they were there?”

DS Watson said: “While forensics found DNA of a known offender on a piece of electrical tape, it was assessed this was not enough to pursue a prosecution.

“If the DNA had been found on a permanent object in the property, this would have been strong proof of this person being in the property. However, it was found on an item that had been brought to the scene of the crime.”

DS Watson said: “We have done all we can in this case, so it’s a shame Mr Dargle still does not feel the same way despite a number of reviews being done into our work, all of which found that it was satisfactory and there was no chance of it proceeding further.”