A CAREER criminal involved in a ram raid was caught after his DNA was found on a cigarette butt discarded next to the abandoned getaway truck, a court has heard.

Lee Boydell was part of a balaclava-clad gang which staged the raid on the HSBC Bank in Woodhall Spa.

Lincoln Crown Court heard how a stolen JCB digger was used to rip the cash machine from the wall.

The ATM was then loaded onto a stolen pickup truck which was driven off to an isolated farm and abandoned after the £33,850 cash had been removed.

Mark Watson, prosecuting, said the truck was found by chance three weeks later when a farm outbuilding was checked out in connection with a planning application.

"It had different number plates glued on the front and back. A cigarette butt was found close to where the truck was.

"The remains of the ATM were in the back of the truck."

Mr Watson said the entire front of the bank, on Broadway in the village, was destroyed costing thousands of pounds to repair.

"This was a professional and well-planned burglary. The preparations started the previous month when the pickup truck was stolen from a farm."

He said a forklift was also stolen, but was abandoned because it was damaged and instead the burglars stole the JCB digger from Tattershall.

The court was told that Boydell had convictions for 193 previous offences including almost 100 for theft and similar matters.

He was arrested as he left prison after being given a short sentence by Worksop Magistrates five days after the ram raid.

Mr Watson said: "This is a career criminal. He is a professional criminal."

Lee Boydell, 37, of Linby Road, Barnsley, admitted burglary between February 25 and March 6 this year. He was jailed for five years.

Judge Michael Heath told him: "This was a professional operation carried out by a gang. It was carefully and deliberately planned." Patricia Harding, defending, said Boydell was recruited to provide the vehicles used in the raid and then to dispose of the getaway truck.

"His benefit was to be £3,000. In the event he did not see anything. He was arrested before he received his payment."

She said Boydell had a "nomadic lifestyle", but is based in Barnsley where he has a girlfriend.

"He didn't see any of the cash, nor did he know how much it was. He is a career criminal, but he is not a career burglar.

"Although he has a significant number of burglaries on his record the last was in 1998."

The bank was forced to close for major repairs following the raid in the early hours of March 5 leaving the village without either a bank or an ATM.

HSBC are due to reopen the bank later this month.