An Epsom man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to burglary and taking motor vehicle without consent.

David Amey, 37, of Peacock Close, Epsom, appeared at Guildford Crown Court on October 16 after incidents at two Epsom properties between November 2017 and January 2018.

Mr Amey broke into a house on Mole Court and stole a purse and a Peugeot 307 during the early hours of November 16, 2017, according to Surrey Police.

When the residents called the bank to cancel the bank card that had gone missing, they were informed it had been used that day at a petrol station a two minutes’ drive away.

Officers obtained CCTV from the petrol station and were able to see the victim’s car being driven onto the forecourt.

Police identified the driver as Mr Amey, who was also captured on CCTV holding the victim’s stolen purse.

The victim received a parking ticket for their stolen Peugeot 307 on Byron Avenue, New Malden on January 5, 2018.

Officers searched the car and found a metal bottle cap for a Bulmer’s cider bottle, which was swabbed for DNA.

The results of the DNA test brought back a full DNA profile for Mr Amey.

At approximately 9.30pm on January 18, a suspect entered a property on Horton Crescent through the back door while the victims were home.

The suspect was chased out of the property by the victim and when the victim returned to the property, they found that a handbag had been taken.

Officers attended and obtained forensics from a footprint on the kitchen floor and a handprint on the back door, which traced to Mr Amey.

Mr Amey was located and arrested on March 10, 2018 for the two residential burglaries.

He was charged and remanded to court the following day, and remanded on bail on April 9 at Guildford Crown Court

Constable Elliott Hartley, who led the investigation, said: "Amey was not careful in covering his tracks which meant that we had some fantastic evidence to help with the case.

“Amey was brazen enough to burgle a property while the residents were awake, and left behind DNA for us to trace him back to the crime.

“He was also identified minutes down the road from where one of the burglaries took place, driving the car and using a bank card taken from the property.”