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A serial burglar who raided five Hartlepool homes in just 10 days has been jailed for more than four years.

Kevin Brown, who has a long record, broke into five addresses in just over a week with two being occupied by the householders at the time.

In one case a woman woke up to find Brown, 44, standing at the foot of her bed and her flat door hanging off its hinges.

Emma Atkinson, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, said: “She was so scared that she started crying asking him who he was and what he was doing in her flat.

Kevin Brown burgled homes on and near Oxford Road, Hartlepool. Picture by FRANK REID

"He said he wasn’t going to hurt her and he didn’t think anyone was there until he had seen her legs in the bed.”

He tried to bluff his way out of it claiming he was trying to alert her to the break-in and offering to fix her door.

But the woman became suspicious when she noticed Brown was wearing gloves and he made off when she said she was going to call the police.

In another burglary in Oxford Road, Brown broke into the home of a woman he knew while she was out.

Kevin Brown was sentenced for five Hartlepool house burglaries at Teesside Crown Court.

A neighbour caught him using a wheelie bin to steal two television sets.

In a statement, the victim said she felt scared to be in her own home.

Recorder Paul Reid described it as a “thoroughly mean” and unpleasant crime.

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In Braemar Road, Brown broke into a bungalow in broad daylight and stole a handbag less than half an hour after the occupier had gone out.

At Owton Manor a mum of four awoke to find she had been broken into overnight when Brown stole jewellery, £200 of alcohol, a £300 designer watch and purse.

He also broke into a woman’s house in the Oxford Road area when he stole a boy’s Xbox, medicine, clothing and bank cards.

The burglaries were all committed between January 20 and 30 this year.

Brown, whose address was given as care of Holme House Prison, admitted five burglaries and six counts of fraud by using the stolen bank cards in local convenience shops.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said Brown was “desperate” after using cocaine to cope with his mother’s death.

He was sentenced to a total of 40 months in jail.

Serial Hartlepool burglar sentenced at Teesside Crown Court for spate of break-ins committed in just 10 days