A THIEF who broke into three Bury homes as the owners slept and stole high-value cars has been jailed.

Liam Ford, aged 20, of no fixed address, worked with other thieves to break in to the houses in the middle of the night over a 20-day period in July.

At Minshull Street Crown Court Michael James, defending Ford, appealed to Judge Mark Savill to give him a suspended prison sentence but the judge was not persuaded and jailed the burglar for three years.

He told Ford: "Offences of this sort will be dealt with severely.

"It gives me no pleasure to give this sentence to someone of your age."

The court heard how Ford struck first on July 1 when he broke into a house in Blackford Avenue, Bury.

Victims, the Taylor family, had gone to bed before midnight.

At 7.30am they woke to find a lounge window open and their two cars — a Ford Mondeo and Kia Cee'd worth a combined total of £35,000 — had been stolen. The Mondeo was recovered but the Kia has not been found.

The burglars also stole a laptop, wallet, designer clothing, a TV and mobile phone.

When police found the Mondeo they discovered a balaclava inside from which they recovered Ford's DNA.

On July 12, Ford also burgled a house in Plumpton Drive, Bury, where the Ali family live.

Judge Savill was told that they went to bed at midnight but at 1.30am they got a call from police informing them their Range Rover had been stolen.

The family then noticed that their backdoor was wide open and designer clothes and other items were missing.

Police had chased the Range Rover and then found it abandoned. Gloves found at the scene had Ford's DNA on them.

In statement read out in court, Mr Ali said: "I feel violated that someone was in my house while I was asleep. My wife is now jittery and doesn't want to be in the house alone."

Eight days after the Plumpton Drive burglary Ford targeted a house in Higher Ainsworth Road, Bury.

Householder Mr Harland's family were all asleep when raiders entered the house through a window and stole a Volvo V40 worth £12,000 from outside.

Crime scene investigators found Ford's fingerprints at the scene.

Ford admitted three counts of burglary.

Mr James said: "He had a good upbringing but, in recent years, got in with a bad crowd.

"While not wishing to downplay the severity of these incidents, there was no ransacking and the occupants did not realise what had happened until they woke up in the morning."