A burglar left a trail of jewellery behind him before jumping out of his bedroom window in a bid to escape police coming to search his house.

Samuel Hodges has now been jailed after admitting to the burglary and handling stolen goods from a break-in in Margate.

He stole a bag of jewellery and a jewellery box with three gold rings and a bedroom drawer the items had been sitting in at a woman's home in Northdown Road earlier that day.

The 24-year-old thief tried to evade police who arrived at his home in Gainsborough Avenue last November 8 to search the property.

When police entered, Hodges made a run for it leaping out of a bedroom window and running from police through the street and several gardens.

But police cornered and detained him and he was arrested.

A search of gardens near Northdown Road found more jewels dropped and left on the ground and while he was in custody, Hodges was identified on CCTV cameras during a burglary in the street at 3.15pm.

Just over an hour later at 4.30pm, police arrived at his home and found the stolen jewellery and the drawer which was found to belong to the victim and her items were returned.

Hodges has now been jailed for four years and six months after pleading guilty to the charges and was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on January 22.

Investigating officer Det Con Andrew Rogers said: "Hodges was caught red-handed after literally stealing an entire drawer full of jewellery. The victim was very thankful to get her belongings back but that doesn’t change the fact he broke into her home and went through her things.

"Burglary is an intrusive offence that can cause a great deal of upset for victims and we are committed to doing all we can to bring offenders to justice.

"Thankfully the overwhelming evidence against Hodges has put him behind bars for a considerable length of time where he’ll no long pose a threat to the community."