A career criminal who was jailed for five years for committing 104 high value burglaries was back to his old ways just four months after his release, a court heard.

Anthony Murray stole property totalling nearly £700,000 in raids on expensive homes in Sussex and Surrey over four years.

Then when after leaving prison in November last year he returned to thieving with an accomplice, targeting expensive properties in Kent and Surrey.

Now the 34-year-old father – branded a serial burglar by a judge – has been locked up for a further five years and four months.

Despite his prolific offending, Murray, of Purley Way, Croydon, managed to leave incriminating footprints behind at some of the six burglaries he admitted.

In one in April in Fordcombe Road, Penshurst, £5,000 cash, jewellery and computers worth £10,000 were stolen.

Jewellery worth £4,777 was taken from a house in Blackhall Lane, Sevenoaks, in March, and Murray left empty-handed from a burglary in Uckfield Lane, Hever, in April.

"An Englishman’s home is often described as his castle in that it is something in which he should feel secure” - judge Baucher

The other burglaries were at homes in Surrey. In one of them jewellery, designer goods and vintage handbags worth £18,340 were stolen.

The victim came home to find her dog eating a sausage. “She thought it was strange because she didn’t have any in the house,” prosecutor Ahmed Hossain told Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday.

“In a bedroom was a half-eaten sausage. It was an old technique to placate the dog so that the burglary could be carried out.”

Mr Hossain said Murray targeted “substantial homes” and high value property was stolen. He and another man were seen on CCTV cameras coming and going in a BMW car.

Murray was arrested at one point on suspicion of burglary but was released. He went on to commit the final break-in.

Murray, who has 16 previous convictions for 25 offences, was given the five-year sentence at Lewes Crown Court on August 26, 2014.

Judge Heather Baucher told Murray, who appeared by video link with Highdown Prison in Banstead, Surrey: “I have heard in mitigation about all sorts of things about trying to turn your life around. This represents a lack of responsibility.

“Burglaries strike at the heart of justice. An Englishman’s home is often described as his castle in that it is something in which he should feel secure.”