A BURGLAR stole jewellery, cash and even Christmas presents from under a tree in a crime spree spanning months, a court heard.

Ian Masters broke into two homes whilst the owners were away stealing items worth thousands, and of “sentimental” value.

In one incident just before Christmas, the 34-year-old, now of HMP Channings Wood, took a wedding ring, engagement ring and identity ring from a Southampton home.

He also stole all the Christmas presents from under the tree, with the full value of his haul totalling "more than £10,000".

Just a month earlier, he broke into another home on Peartree Avenue, stealing £110 in cash, credit cards, an engagement ring and gold cufflinks.

READ MORE: Ian Masters, 33, handed jail term at Portsmouth Crown Court

The cards were then used for two transactions worth £20.

Masters pleaded guilty to both burglaries, that he committed in 2021, and appeared at Southampton Crown Court for sentence via video link.

He was previously convicted of two other burglaries in Southampton and Romsey and jailed for three years and nine months at the same court.

On one occasion he smashed a glass door of a property on Church Lane, Southampton, before taking a laptop and Nintendo Switch.

But before he left, he also smeared cheese across all of the kitchen surfaces.

Prosecuting, Emily Lanham told the court how on December 31, 2021, Masters had been “intending to go out and burgle”.

READ MORE: Ian Masters jailed after stealing alcohol, lamb, chocolate and razors from Southampton shops

In a statement read out in court, the victims of the Peartree Avenue break-in said they have been left feeling “unsafe and insecure in their own home”.

But mitigating, Chris Gaiger said that Masters had been homeless and addicted to drugs at the time, which he claimed was the reason why he turned to crime.

He said: “He tells me that since being in custody that he has addressed that problem.”

Judge Brian Forster KC said Masters had committed “two serious offences of burglary” that had a "considerable" effect on his victims.

He added that Masters “did not have a long record for offences of burglary”, having only one previous offence before he was jailed.

Masters was jailed for nine months.

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