After failing six times to break into homes at Wixams in the dead of night, Jamie Mann and an accomplice went to Kempston where they broke into a house while a couple were asleep and then stole two cars parked outside.
The couple woke to the sound of their cars being driven away and alerted the police.
Shortly afterwards police located the cars and a fingerprint found on the number plate of one of them was linked to Mann.
As a result the 27-year-old of Victoria Road, Bedford appeared at Luton crown court yesterday (29 April) and plead guilty to six offences of attempted burglary, burglary and two counts of theft.
He asked for three other offences to be taken into consideration.
Geoffrey Porter prosecuting told how in the early hours of 26 June last year the defendant and another man were in the area of Caldwall Crescent and Harlequin Drive at Wixams
He said Mann was caught on CCTV systems trying six front doors of properties in the hope of gaining entry.
The court was told having failed to get in any property, Mann went to Kempston in Bedford.
In Westminster Gardens at around 3 am he and the other man managed to “pop” the uPVC front door.
Inside the house, while a couple were asleep upstairs, they took the keys to two vehicles parked outside, a laptop and two handbags.
Mr Porter said the pair then drove away a Fiat car and a Nissan vehicle.
They returned a short while later to collect their own vehicle which was parked near the burgled property.
The court heard details about their crime including how the victims had been woken by the sound of their cars being driven away and that police later found both cars abandoned.
Judge Lynn Tayton QC hearing the case was also told a fingerprint belonging to Mann was discovered on one vehicle and lead to his arrest.
She was told Mann had committed the offences to fund his drug dependency.
Mann was given a three-year jail sentence and told he would be freed at the halfway stage on licence.
