A TEENAGE burglar left householders more than £25,000 out of pocket after a relentless three-month crime spree.

Karl Davies was part of a gang which repeatedly raided sheds and garages in Darlington, looking for rich pickings.

The 19-year-old netted expensive equipment and caused costly damage during his burglary binge late last year.

He escaped with a dozen bikes, a joiner’s tools and electrical goods from 15 break-ins.

Davies was caught on November 15, returning to a garage he had broken into earlier, but fled from when he was disturbed.

When he was first interviewed by police, the teenager owned up to a raid three days earlier and one on October 6.

He later asked to be driven around town and showed police 12 other properties he had attacked since August.

Davies’ lawyer, James Fenny, said he would not have been a suspect for the breakins and attempts had he not confessed. The teenager, of Thamesway, Darlington, was sent to a young offenders’ institution for six months yesterday.

He admitted two burglaries and an attempted burglary, and asked for 12 other matters to be taken into consideration.

The judge, Recorder Neil Davey, said the sentence would have been longer had Davies not co-operated with the police.

Mr Fenny said: “He cooperates to the best of his ability, and the police appreciate this because of the lack of evidence.

“I think the police would have struggled to prove a link between him and the matters he accepts.

“When he is asked about why he is volunteering this information, he says he wants to get it off his chest.”

Mr Fenny told Teesside Crown Court that Davies was not motivated to commit crime by an addiction to drugs or alcohol.

He said he had run up debts on his flat and was encouraged to join the raids by as many as four other influential peers.

Mr Recorder Davey told the teenager: “You were attracted by the prospect of making easy money by repeatedly breaking into people’s garages or sheds where you believed – and were proved right – there would be highvalue items.

“Time and time again you did it and altogether you stole more than £26,000 of other people’s property as a result of break-in after break-in during a three-month period.”