A BURGLAR who targeted homes across Bournemouth has been jailed for four years and four months.

Rodney Gary Donald, 49, of Frances Road in Bournemouth, was sentenced at Exeter Crown Court after admitting two counts of burglary. He also asked for three further burglary offences to be taken into consideration.

Between 1pm on Sunday, August 12, 2018, and 2.45pm on Monday, August 13, a burglary occurred at a home in Knole Road.

The victim found a rear window had been smashed with a brick and entry gained to a utility room. However, the offender was not able to gain access to the rest of the house and nothing was taken.

Blood was found at the scene which was analysed, and the DNA was shown to be a match for Donald.

Sometime between 3.30pm and 9.45pm on Sunday, August 19, another burglary occurred at a flat in Talbot Road.

The victim discovered that their front door had been damage and two laptops, a hard drive, cables, handbag, tablet and rucksack had been stolen.

Ten days later, police were alerted after some of the items were seen advertised for sale on Gumtree.

The seller was found to be an IT store in Bournemouth, which confirmed it had purchased the items from a man who had visited the store on Monday, August 20.

Donald was identified from the CCTV and a number of the stolen items were recovered.

He was arrested at his home address on Thursday, August 30, and following a search of his room, officers recovered a number of items linked to three other burglaries in the Bournemouth area.

The defendant admitted the burglaries in Knole Road and Talbot Road as well as further break-ins at homes in Corhampton Road in Iford on 19 August, Haviland Road on August 25 and Palmerston Road on August 27.

Police Constable Chris Raspini, of Dorset Police’s Priority Crime Team, said: “Rodney Donald targeted five homes in Bournemouth over a short period in August last year and showed little regard for the impact of his offending on his victims.

“I am glad that through our investigations we were able to identify Donald as the man responsible for these crimes and recover much of the property that was taken.”