A wanted burglar has been apprehended and locked up for three and a half years following a “blitz” of night-time raids on householders’ garages.

Jerome Williams’ description was circulated by the police last month and today he was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court after being arrested on a bench warrant and held in custody.

Williams, 27, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to burgling six detached garages in Bradford to steal power tools and other equipment between late January and early March.

Prosecutor Ben Whittingham said Williams had previous convictions for house burglary, handling stolen good and going equipped.

He had racked up enough offences of domestic burglary to have been dealt with in the past as a “third striker.”

This time he was just weeks into an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, imposed at Bradford Crown Court on December 1 last year.

Mr Whittingham said he smashed windows in the garages or removed glass panes to gain entry overnight. Some of the buildings were ransacked as he searched for power tools and garden equipment to steal.

One householder lost £2,400 of tools, food and detergents when his garage was targeted.

Mr Whittingham said the offences were aggravated by the fact that Williams was on prison licence and burgled at night. On at least one occasion he had an accomplice.

Williams’ barrister, Jeremy Hill-Baker, conceded that he was a persistent burglar with a background of similar, and worse, offending.

He said Williams was a heroin addict and it had been hoped that the drug rehabilitation requirement he received with his suspended sentence would “yield some fruit.”

He attended the sessions at first but lapsed back into drug taking before his first appointment before the court.

Mr Hill-Baker said Williams pleaded guilty at the first opportunity before the magistrates.

He knew he must change his ways but was finding his addiction very hard to combat.

Judge Jonathan Rose said Williams had “a long and appalling history of persistent offending.”

He had embarked on a “deliberate campaign” to burgle garages to steal power tools to sell to fund his drug habit.

“You have caused inconvenience, damage and huge loss as well as distress and upset,” Judge Rose said.

“This blitz of offending must be met with a sentence of imprisonment.”

Williams was jailed for two years for the burglaries and the 18-month suspended sentence was activated in full to run consecutively.