A man has been jailed after admitting conspiring to burgle five Gravesham homes and stealing thousands of pounds' worth of jewellery.

Ion Vaduva, 30, was jailed for four years.

Vaduva had been sentenced in May to 30 months in jail for two offences of burgling homes in the district.

However, while investigating those crimes, police suspected this was just the tip of the iceberg as the methods behind the original two burglaries were similar to those used in a number of other offences.

In each, the offender had forced their way into the empty property and quickly and expertly searched the bedrooms, pulling the upstairs curtains closed before doing so.

Jewellery was the main target and thousands of pounds' worth had been stolen in five further incidents, some of which had been recovered.

Officers built up a strong case against him. He was produced from prison and charged with conspiracy to burgle in connection with incidents across the district between December 12 2013 and February 8 2014.

"A lot of work went into compiling evidence against Vaduva and I am pleased he has been brought to justice for his crimes..." - DC Robin Hemsley.

The judge ruled the four-year sentence would be served concurrently to the 30-month sentence already imposed.

DC Robin Hemsley said: "While investigating this series of burglaries, it became obvious that Vaduva had specifically targeted jewellery, including Asian gold. Many pieces of Asian gold jewellery hold great cultural significance.

"The invasion of privacy and subsequent enormous loss of highly prized family heirlooms has had huge impacts on many of the victims, some of whom are still struggling to recover from what has happened.

"A lot of work went into compiling evidence against Vaduva and I am pleased he has been brought to justice for his crimes.

"While I can reassure the public that we have specialised teams of officers dedicated to tackling burglary, I'd ask all members of the public to work with us by keeping an eye out for suspicious behaviour or activity in your community.

"If you see something you are concerned about, report it - the more information we have about crime and suspicious activity, the more likely it is we can build up a clear picture of patterns and evidence that help us catch offenders and bring them before the courts."