A Caldicot man described by police as a 'one man crime wave' has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting three burglaries and the theft of a car.

Lee Prosser, of Denny View, was sentenced at Newport Crown Court last Wednesday (4th September) after pleading guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing.

The 26-year-old stole a BMW 320 convertible from a property in Caldicot on 1st April and a mountain bike worth £140 from the back garden of another address in the town three days later.

On 9th June, Prosser burgled a bungalow in Beech Grove, Chepstow.

Prosecutor David Wooler told how the owner of the property had heard the front door open and close at about 6am and at first thought it was her husband leaving for work.

It was later that morning she realised a tablet computer and the keys to her Volkswagen car were missing from the house.

She then saw the car itself was missing from the driveway. In it was a laptop computer, school books, hearing aids and medication.

The car, driven by Prosser, was later found at the Tesco car park in Chepstow.

A victim impact statement was read out in court, in which the homeowner told how upset her family had been to discover their home had been burgled while they slept.

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"I feel very insecure at home and am more obsessive about safety now," she said in the statement.

"The loss of the car had a great impact, the hearing aids took several weeks to replace and the loss of the school work cannot be replaced.

"This incident has greatly disturbed me."

Prosser burgled a static caravan in Dingestow, taking a TV, tablet computer, jeans, tobacco and a purse containing £42 in cash.

He also targetted an unoccupied property in Builth Wells between 6th June and 10th June, stealing two phones, a hi-fi, sat nav, camera and other items worth a total of more than £3,000, and stole two bicycles from a shed near bungalows in Chepstow.

Prosser asked for 32 other offences, including 20 thefts from cars, to be taken into consideration when sentencing.

Steven Thomas, defending, said a number of Prosser's crimes were opportunistic and that he had shown genuine remorse and a desire to "wipe the slate clean".

Much of Prosser's offending was to feed a drug addiction, said Mr Thomas, but since being in custody he had completed drug courses as well as IT courses and was "determined to get off drugs".

Judge RP Rowlands sentenced Prosser to a total of two-and-a-half years in prison and banned from driving for 18 months.

Detective Constable Cerith Griffiths, of Gwent Police, said: "Prosser is a one-man crime wave.

"His persistent offending has brought a lot of misery to a lot of people in Caldicot, Chepstow and Monmouth.

"I am pleased that he has been brought to justice and is now off the streets, behind bars."