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When Kevin Leslie Henry broke into the Caltex servo at Albion Park Rail Caltex in the dead of night earlier this year, he left two things behind.
One, bizarrely, but of little consequence, was the drawstring from his pants.
The other, no doubt with much larger repercussions, was his DNA.
It took investigating officer mere moments to swipe a sample of the blood Henry had left on the cigarette cabinet he'd rummaged through just hours earlier.
It was subsequently run through the police database and officers quickly found their match, leading to Henry's arrest 10 days later.
With the evidence stacked up against him, Henry had little choice but to plead guilty to a charge of break, enter and steal in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday.
A set of agreed facts tendered to the court reveal Henry attended the service station just after 3.30am on January 19 and smashed a hole in the rear wall, allowing him to crawl into the store on his stomach.
CCTV footage shows Henry, who was wearing dark clothing at the time with a t-shirt covering his face, commando-crawl along the ground on his stomach towards the service console.
He unlocked the door and crawled on his stomach towards the cash register, which he pulled onto the floor. He attempted to open the till but couldn't get it to budge.
The CCTV then captured him turning his attention to the cigarette cabinet, which he opened with a screwdriver and hammer.
Henry took between $2,400 and $3,400 worth of cigarettes, including cases of Winfield Red, Winfield Blue and winfield Gold, from the cabinet.
He then carried the trays of cigarettes back to the hole he'd created in the wall and crawled his way to freedom.
Service station staff arrived about an hour later and discovered the mess, which included several packets of cigarettes strewn across the floor, and contacted police.
Meanwhile, when police attended Henry's home to arrest him on January 30, they discovered he had three cannabis plants growing in the backyard of his Ribbonwood Place home.
The plants ranged between 0.5m and 1.5m in height.
Henry made full admissions to growing the plants when interviewed by police and has subsequently pleaded guilty to a cultivation charge.
Henry remains behind bars and will face court again on May 29 for a sentencing date to be fixed.