A 50-year-old prolific burglar has been jailed for 40 months after he was caught on CCTV breaking into a back garden in Gloucester.

Jason Brown, of Matson Avenue, carried out the raid while subject to a community order for an earlier burglary when he stole £6,700 worth of golf clubs and power tools.

Prosecutor Ian Fenny explained to Gloucester Crown Court last Friday (April 14) that on January 4, 2023, Brown, of Matson Avenue, was seen entering a garden in Larkham Close, Matson, during the early evening when he triggered an alarm and the home owner was alerted.

Mr Fenny said: "CCTV footage showed that the culprit had disguised himself, with his face being covered."

"The property owner phoned the neighbour and who was able to see into the garden and saw the intruder trying to get into the property. He called the police who arrived promptly and arrested Brown nearby."

The court was told that Brown had previously been sentenced to a 30-month community order for breaking into two sheds in Matson and stealing over £6,700 worth of tools and golf clubs.

The prosecutor further explained during the early hours of August 23, 2022, the home owner was awoken by noise outside his home in Caledonian Road, Matson with the sound of a trolley being dragged outside his window followed by a loud bang at 6.30am. He looked out of the window and saw that the door to his shed had been forced open and saw a man bent down behind his car on the driveway.

The court heard that a set of golf clubs and other tools valued at £6,700 had been taken from the shed. The neighbour's shed had also been broken into, with an unknown value of items being taken.

The prosecutor told the judge that because Brown had breached to terms of the community order, he needed to be sentenced for both offences.

Sarah Jenkins defending said: "During Brown's first remand into custody for the original matters he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He also lost his father while he was in prison.

"After he was released from prison, having been sentence to a community order, within weeks he was remanded in custody for his latest offence and during this period of imprisonment, he lost his brother.

"Since 2019, he spent most of his time trying to stay on the straight and narrow, but because of his long standing drug problem, his addiction slowly got worse and he returned to what he knew which resulted in the shed break ins.

"Brown initially complied with the community order but the drug element hadn't started and his addiction to drugs was so strong that he resorted to burglaries to finance his habit.

"Brown didn't break into the property in January, but he did try to remove the CCTV camera from the wall.

Brown pleaded guilty to attempted burglary on January 4, 2023, at Larkham Close Matson, Gloucester.

The Judge, Recorder Richard Stead told Brown: "You have a horrendous criminal record with 36 convictions, mostly for burglary. Your most recent offending in August last year for the thefts from sheds commanded a two-year and six-month community order with a number of requirements when you were sentenced in November.

"It was just six weeks later you committed this offence of breaking into a back garden and attempting to break into a property. It is only an 'attempt' because the neighbour was called upon and you were surprised by his appearance. You immediately left the scene. I suspect that had this not happened, you would have broken into the property.

"I have reviewed the earlier case in which you stole £6,700 worth of golf clubs and power tools, for which I am revoking the community sentence order, and together with your latest offending, your sentence is so serious an immediate custodial term is justified. This will be a prison term totalling 40 months."