Prolific burglar is snared by police and jailed after being caught by a selfie in a stolen car

Daniel Kaye left his phone behind during one job which police recovered and found a photo of him with a Seat Ibiza he had stolen from a previous break-in.

The crack addict has a long list of convictions dating back to 2001 and has been handed multiple jail terms for burglaries. Appearing at Leeds Crown Court this week he admitted three new dwelling burglaries, one attempted burglary and one offence of theft. Ten other attempted burglaries were also taken into consideration.

Prosecutor Robert Galley told the court that the 40-year-old would find homes fitted with Euro locks and use mole grips to snap them and gain entry.

On January 19 he broke into a home on Manor Road and stole a TV, handbag and mobile phone, before snatching the keys to the £15,000 Seat Ibiza parked outside before driving off. He left a glove at the scene.

Days later he broke into a home on Belgrave Terrace but nothing was reported stolen, then a home on Warmfield View where he took money from a wallet while the occupants were in bed.

Then on January 23, he was with an unknown accomplice that broke into a home on Halton Road but were disturbed by the couple who had been woken by the noise. Kaye's mobile phone was left in the garden.

He was arrested the next day from his home address at Halfpenny Lane in Pontefract. He initially gave no comments during his police interview, but then confessed. He has 32 previous convictions for 89 offences.

He has been given varying jail terms for burglaries in the past including 32 months, four years, six years and even eight years.

Mitigating for his latest offending, Samreen Akhtar conceded there was little she could say on his behalf, but said since his latest release from custody he was working for a car-cleaning company, but had fallen and broken his ankle, meaning he lost his employment.

She said he began taking prescription medication for the pain, but then fell back into taking crack cocaine, for which he was forced to burgle homes to feed his habit.

Judge Ray Singh jailed him for six years and said: "You are a professional burglar. These are not opportunistic. You deliberately go out to burgle houses and do so on a night. You are quite happy to burgle houses knowing the occupants will be present.

"You go out on planned campaigns and you are equipped with tools to commit these offences."