A would-be thief from Willenhall has been banned from every school in England and Wales after he tried to steal a projector from a classroom.

James Rafferty was given the ban under a four-year Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order.

The 39-year-old, of Moxhull Gardens, could be jailed for up to five years if found loitering in school grounds, although he is allowed to pick up his son from school.

Rafferty was made subject to the Crasbo at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court after he broke into Highfields Science School, Penn, and tried to steal a projector last summer.

The court heard he had been caught in school grounds on a number of occasions but had not been prosecuted because of a lack of evidence. But after his unsuccessful raid on July 31 he was traced by police through DNA.

Miss Melanie Dyson, prosecuting, said: “On February 6 he was arrested for another attempted burglary at the same school.

“He was not charged for it because the evidence linking him to the crime was circumstantial, but this offence from last year pinned him down, and police feel the CRASBO is needed to curb his behaviour.”