JAILED: Addict stole car from family home and drove to next burglary

Matthew Timmins broke into the two family homes – one in West Bromwich - via their front doors in the early hours of February 4.

He made off with a wallet containing bank cards and cash, as well as the keys to the Volkswagen Golf he used to travel between the two homes.

Timmins, aged 34, was also involved in four similar burglaries committed across Sandwell within a week, having admitted handling stolen goods from each.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court he was sentenced to three years behind bars.

Timmins, of no fixed address, first burgled a home in Jesson Street, West Bromwich. He gained access by pushing the lock out of the front door using a tool which has not been recovered.

While the family slept, he took a coat and a wallet containing bank cards and £20 cash.

He also took the keys to the Volkswagen Golf which had been parked outside.

He used the car to travel to a home in Handsworth where he gained access in the same way and entered while the family was asleep.

Again he stole car keys but this time did not take the car, said Mr David Swinnerton, prosecuting.

Timmins had also admitted handling stolen items taken during four similar burglaries at homes in West Bromwich and Smethwick.

These items included jewellery worth a total of £1,100 which were later sold to Cash Generators, in West Bromwich.

Timmins was linked to the jewellery after he was spotted on CCTV standing outside the shop while a woman he had been living with went inside.

During a search of her flat police found a laptop which had been reported burgled from a home in Perry Street, Smethwick.

Mr Swinnerton, said: "The hallmarks of the burglaries and handlings is that they all took place in the early hours while the occupants were at home.

"Each had uPVC front doors where the barrel of the lock was taken out. And they were all within a week of each other."

On February 14, Mr Timmins was seen driving a Vauxhall Astra taken following a burglary at a home in Arthur Street, Smethwick, the previous night.

It was later found abandoned in West Bromwich alongside a 48" TV which had been burgled from a home in John Street, West Bromwich.

Phillip Brunt, defending, said his client had fallen back into heroin dependency and that had been the "root cause" of his offending.

Timmins, who had been convicted of burglary on two previous occasions, pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary, four of handling stolen items and one of taking a vehicle without permission.