Ricky Woolaston, 35, dressed in uniform bearing the University of Birmingham logo to break into students' houses and steal laptops . A thief who tricked his way into students' homes to steal their belongings was caught when he left his old police charge sheet behind which had his name written on it. Ricky Woolaston, 35, posed as a university maintenance engineer to gain access to students' properties before pinching laptops and mobile phones to feed his drug habit. But a court heard he was easily tracked down by police after he left behind his bag at the scene of one of the crimes. Officers searched the rucksack and found it contained a police charge sheet from a previous offence bearing his name and address. The prolific thief was arrested last Friday, and has now been sentenced to four years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to five burglaries. The court heard unemployed Woolaston would walk around the University of Birmingham campus wearing clothes bearing the red-brick university's logo. But he was caught out when he broke into the Biosciences Department on January 29 where he forced open two secure metal cupboards. Nothing was stolen but Woolaston, from Erdington, Birmingham, left behind the bag containing the charge sheet. Police were then able to pin four other burglaries on him with the help of students who  positively identified him. After the case, Detective Constable Jon Green, from West Midlands Police, said: 'Woolaston targeted students at Birmingham University in order to feed his drug habit. However, Woolaston was caught after breaking into the University's bio-sciences lab and leaving behind a bag containing a previous police charge sheet, with his name and address written on it . 'He wore a University of Birmingham top and pretended to be a maintenance engineer in order to enter the student flats and steal electrical goods. 'Unfortunately for him, Woolaston managed to leave vital evidence behind at one of the break-ins, and we are grateful to vigilant students who were able to identify him for further burglaries. 'Woolaston was charged with a total of five offences, and asked for a further five burglaries to be taken into consideration. We are happy with his sentence.'
Ricky Woolaston, 35, posed as engineer to break into students' homes . Stole laptops and phones in order to feed his drug habit, court told . Was caught after leaving behind charge sheet with name and address on .