A brazen burglar who targeted homes over the Christmas period – including one raid on Christmas Eve – has been jailed.

Paul Mounger, formerly of Alamein Road, Swanscombe, committed nine burglaries before he was arrested by officers in the back garden of a Greenhithe home he had just raided.

The 27-year-old used a stolen red Ford Fiesta with stolen plates to travel between crime scenes across Kent and south London between November 2016 and January 2017.

He admitted his crimes at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday, June 12, and was jailed for three years.

Police were called after a victim’s neighbour noticed torch lights being shone inside a home in Beaton Close, Greenhithe, at about 7pm on January 23, and found Mounger in the back garden.

He was carrying a bag with the victim’s belongings when he was arrested. The victim’s television was also found in the garden.

While Mounger was in custody. Police reviewed CCTV of a burglary in Atlantic Close, Swanscombe on January 17, when camera equipment, a telescope, a laptop and a TV were stolen, and established Mounger was the burglar.

During a subsequent investigation, Mounger was linked to the following burglaries:

  • A tablet computer, two watches and a rugby kitbag stolen from a house in Contsable Road, Gravesend sometime between November 14 and 16;
  • A burglary in Kibbles Green, Sevenoaks, on November 24, when luxury watches and handbags were snatched. Mounger was pinned to the burglary by analysis of mobile phone data;
  • The front and rear registration plates from a car parked in Joyce Green Lane, Dartford, between December 5 and 12;
  • A raid in Brookside Road, Gravesend, on December 10, when jewellery, cash, a TV, a games console, and keys to the Ford Fiesta were stolen;
  • A burglary in Harrison Avenue, Longfield, between December 23 and 24, when rucksacks, a camera and a virtual reality headset were stolen. Again, mobile phone data analysis raced Mounger to the crime scene;
  • A raid in Scratton Fields, Cobham, in which a smart watch, a tablet computer and headphones were taken on Christmas Eve;
  • The theft of a luxury handbag and a table computer stolen from Darenth Park Avenue, Dartford on December 28;
  • Taking tablet computers and power tools from a home in Sherwood Avenue, Chatham, on January 13.

Detective Constable Robin Hemsley, said: “Mounger indiscriminately targeted numerous homes and was brazen enough to use a stolen vehicle to travel to crime scenes and store the stolen items.

“Burglary is an intrusive and callous offence and a particularly aggravating feature for his crimes is the fact he targeted some homes over the Christmas period.

“I am all too aware of the impact burglaries can have on victims and I hope that they can find some closure by knowing we have secured this prison sentence.”