A “career” criminal who burgled or attempted to break into more than 20 homes has been jailed for four years.

Two other men were also imprisoned for their parts in one of the night time raids in Athelstan Close, Penkridge.

Don Milligan and Christopher Grant got into the house in March by forcing the front door open while the family slept upstairs, Stafford Crown Court heard.

They stole mobile phones, computers and the keys to two cars parked on the drive, a Peugeot and a Ford Ka, which were driven away.

The vehicles were hidden in the garden of Cannock man Richard Sweet where police found them later the same day, said Nick Tatlow, prosecuting.

Also found in Sweet’s house was property stolen in the Penkridge burglary. Milligan and Sweet were rounded up the following day.

Mr Tatlow said 28-year-old Milligan had committed another car-key burglary, in Beechpine Close, Hednesford, on February 7. The householder’s wife saw her husband’s car being driven away.

Milligan, of High Mount Street, Hednesford, admitted two charges of burglary and asked for 19 other offences, 14 burglaries and five attempts all in the Penkridge-Cannock area, to be considered.

Judge Mark Eades told him: “You are a full-time house burglar – you have made a career out of it. You have 110 previous convictions, you have received long sentences in the past and can expect an even longer one now.”

Mr Stephen Bailey, defending, said Milligan was trying to put class A drug use behind him.

Grant, aged 22, of Bradbury Lane, Hednesford, who admitted the Penkridge burglary was jailed for 20 months. Sweet, 21, of Rowley Close, Cannock, was cleared by a jury of burglary but convicted of handling stolen goods. He was jailed for 14 months.