A serial teenage car thief from Dartford who stole presents on Christmas Eve has been jailed for four years.

Ryan Holt, 18, of Littlebrook Manor Way, was linked to a number of thefts between December 2017 and March 2019 by DNA tracing after he was caught in the act on CCTV earlier this year.

The first offence in the series of charges against Holt saw a property in Knights Croft, New Ash Green, burgled on Christmas Eve 2017.

A van belonging to the victim, along with several Christmas presents, were stolen during the overnight break-in, which officers went on to find the abandoned in Dartford four days later.

The registration plate on the vehicle had been swapped, but Holt’s DNA was found on a piece of electrical tape holding the new plate in place.

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CCTV footage of Holt

On the night of December 16 2018 Holt went on to steal three cars from a property in Veles Road, Snodland.

He stole the keys for each vehicle after forcing open the victim’s front door, leaving a glove print which again provided a DNA match.

Woolwich Crown Court also heard that on March 5 2019 Holt was twice caught committing offences on privately held CCTV.

The first incident took place at around 2.45pm and saw him steal a set of keys that had accidentally been left in the front door of a property in Rosebury Gardens, Dartford.

Around 45 minutes later he burgled a home in nearby Dorchester Close and stole a watch, a handbag and a quantity of cash.

Holt was arrested on the same evening after officers recognised him from the victim’s CCTV footage.

In addition to the burglary and theft offences, Holt was also charged with assaulting two prison officers while he was being held on remand for an unrelated matter on 13 April 2018.

Detective Constable Richard Sears, one of Kent Police’s investigating officers for the case, said: "Ryan Holt has shown himself to be a persistent offender who poses an unacceptable risk to members of the public.

"He has caused a considerable amount of distress to numerous victims and I am pleased that his sentence means he is no longer able to target innocent members of the public.’