A BABY-FACED burglar who broke into 25 homes and stole £50,000 of property has been jailed.

Bradley Lengthorn, 19, was sentenced for a string of offences alongside burglar Charlie Wall, 21, who broke into an 88-year-old woman’s bedroom while she slept and stole her hearing aid.

Lengthorn, who has been committing crimes since he was 11, was handed a 20- month prison sentence at Basildon Crown Court after admitting two counts of burglary and asking for 23 others to be taken in to consideration.

Wall, of Deacon Drive, Laindon, was jailed for three years and nine months after admitting two counts of burglary and one of handling stolen goods.

Lengthorn, of no fixed address, is estimated to have taken more than £50,000 of property to support a cocaine and cannabis habit.

He admitted breaking in to a house in Blake Avenue, Basildon, on October 21 and stealing £7,778 of property including jewellery, two phones and two designer handbags.

He broke in to a house in Falstones, Laindon, on March 21 and stole £2,000 in property.

The court heard while on remand at Glen Parva Young Offenders’ Institute, Lengthorn worked with officers to identify 23 further houses he has broken in to.

This means he will not be prosecuted for these burglaries at a later date.

Matthew Bone, mitigating for Lengthorn said: “He has led a life of crime since he was 11 and has stolen rather than worked.

“He has stolen to sniff or smoke drugs.

“But now he wishes to change his ways, to clear his plate and start afresh.”

The pair were sentenced at the same hearing at Basildon Crown Court however the offences were committed separately.

Wall broke in to a ground floor flat in Wetherford, Basildon, on November 17.

He got in through a bedroom window, next to where the 88-year-old victim was asleep in bed.

He then crept past her, snatched a hearing aid, watch, cigarettes and cash off her bedside table, before rifling through her wardrobe.

Wall then crept out in to the hallway of the flat, where he was confronted by the woman who asked him what he was doing.

He fled out of the front door but was later identified from DNA left at the scene.

Wall’s second burglary was in Falstones, Lee Chapel on March 21.

Police were called after neighbours spotted two men outside a flat, trying to hide the things they had stolen.

Officers arrived, found property dumped nearby and identified Wall because his finger prints were left on the items.