A prolific crook has been jailed for 20 months after admitting carrying out a series of burglaries at shops in Colchester town centre.

Jon Birch, 40, of no fixed address, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday, April 24, after admitting five counts of burglary.

At around 10pm on March 19, Birch smashed the front door of Boots in Lion Walk before stealing perfumes and aftershaves.

Two days later, Birch smashed the front door of HMV in Culver Square and took three speakers.

Over two days from March 24, Essex Police received three reports of burglaries at Boots, HMV and Holland & Barrett.

During these incidents Birch took aftershaves, perfumes, three turntables and protein powders and vitamins.

The force found all the burglaries were carried out by Birch after reviewing CCTV and he was arrested on March 24.

Sgt Martin Willsher, of Colchester’s Community Policing Team, said: “Birch is a prolific burglar who targeted Colchester town centre’s business community late at night for his own financial gain.

“He smashed his way into them, causing a large amount of damage, before stealing items.

“The total cost of the items taken is estimated to be around £5,000 and these were never recovered.

“The burglaries resulted in a financial loss to the businesses and caused further disruption because of repair work.

“I believe Colchester town centre can only be a better place to work and shop with Birch locked in a prison cell.”