A teenager who went on a burglary spree was arrested sleeping next to his loot after raiding 18 homes.

Police issued a countywide alert for Thomas Ransom after he jumped bail last year and he was tracked down to holiday flats in Paignton where he was a temporary resident.

He carried out all his raids in the space of a few weeks after he was released from an earlier sentence for previous burglaries, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Ransom, who only turned 18 in August last year, became one of the youngest offenders to be jailed under strict new sentencing guidelines introduced two weeks ago.

He qualified for a minimum sentence as a “third-strike burglar” because he had already been convicted of domestic burglaries when he was aged just 15 and 17.

The victims of his most recent raids included an elderly couple who have been left feeling insecure after discovering that Ransom had entered their home as they slept.

Ransom, of Marine Drive, Paignton, admitted three burglaries and asked for 15 others to be considered. All took place in Torbay.

He was jailed for 29 months by Judge Barry Cotter, QC, at Exeter Crown Court. The judge discounted the mandatory three-year sentence to take account of his guilty plea.

He told him: “You must appreciate the sense of violation felt by people when somebody comes into their own home.

“Hard-working people feel justifiably angry, which is why the law takes such a strict approach to domestic burglaries.

“You have written me a letter which is unusual in that the spelling and punctuation are perfect, despite you having left school at 15, so there is hope for you in education.

“It gives me no pleasure at all to see an 18-year-old receive such a heavy sentence. I hope you take this opportunity to move forward. It is a terrible path that faces you otherwise.”

Howard Phillips, prosecuting, saidon Thursday: “This defendant is a three-strikes burglar. The background is drug addiction and he has funded that addiction by stealing.”

“These three offences all took place in September and one followed the other. They were all at night and all on occupied dwellings.

“He got in through insecure doors or windows and took cash, computers or electrical items. He was arrested in the early hours with the stolen property stacked up beside him.

He said Ransom got in through insecure doors or windows and took cash, computers or electrical items. He was arrested in the early hours with the stolen property stacked up beside him.

“The effects on the victims included justifiable annoyance that somebody had been in their house while they were sleeping and concern about their future security.

“In one case the victim was an elderly person of 78 with an ill husband who feels unnerved and upset by what happened. Others speak of having to improve the security of their home and being fearful and uneasy about noises in the night.”

Niall Brooks, defending, said the offences happened when Ransom was released from his previous sentence on to the streets of Torquay suffering from suspected schizophrenia and psychosis and had started taking crack cocaine and heroin. He had done his best to help the police clear up his crimes because he wanted to make a clean start.