A burglar has been jailed for five years for carrying out four offences in three days around east Kent.
Jimmy Gilheaney attempted to break into a house in Ashford on Saturday 10 October 2020 before getting inside another property in the town the same day and stealing cash.
The following day, he took cash and jewellery from a property in Folkestone, before stealing similar items from a home in Westgate-on-Sea on Monday 12 October 2020.
The 39-year-old was arrested and charged following an investigation by Kent Police’s Chief Constable’s Crime Squad and he admitted three counts of burglary and one of attempted burglary on Friday 23 April 2021.
At Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday 29 April, Gilheaney was jailed for five years.
Residents of a home in Ashford saw Gilheaney and another man in their back garden trying to get through a door on Saturday 10 October 2020. The police were called and the men drove off in a grey BMW.
Later the same day, a resident of another property in Ashford came home to find a glazed door had been smashed and more than £2,000 in cash had been stolen.
The following afternoon, those living in a house in Folkestone came back from a walk to find cash and jewellery worth more than £10,000 had been stolen from their home.
And the day after that, the neighbour of a property in Westgate-on-Sea saw two men leaving a nearby house having stolen foreign and British currency, designer handbags and jewellery.
Police located the grey BMW used by the men but it collided with a police car before driving off.
Officers from the Chief Constable’s Crime Squad used CCTV and doorbell footage from the crimes to link them and the car to Jimmy Gilheaney.
Gilheaney, from Bristol, was also charged with four other offences, relating to burglaries in Ashford and Folkestone on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 September 2020. He did not enter pleas to those offences and they were ordered to lie on the file.
Investigating officer PC Scott Drake said: ‘Gilheaney was a committed burglar who carried out as many break-ins as he could and I am pleased he will now be unable to target the people of Kent.
‘The investigation shows the importance domestic CCTV and doorbell footage can be in helping us track down and arrest burglars and in making your home as secure as possible to deter thieves.’