PROLIFIC burglar Luke  Howard has been jailed after  repeatedly “making himself at  home” in his victims’ houses in  the city.

The 25-year-old slept in beds,  cooked himself food and used  the bathroom while ransacking  student houses in Danes Road,  near the city centre.

Exeter Crown Court was also  told he stole goods worth thousands of pounds, including  items of irreplaceable sentimental value.

Howard, of no fixed abode,  was sent to prison for two years  at the court on Friday, after  admitting three burglaries in  the city and a charge of possessing amphetamine.

He also successfully asked for  17 other burglaries and thefts to  be taken into account.

After his arrest, he had written to police, offering to solve  burglaries and thefts, and had  pointed out the scenes of his  crimes while being driven  around the city by a detective.

Prosecutor Alexander Allsop  said the three burglaries were  committed in December last  year and this January. Howard  smashed windows and broke in  while the occupants were away,  making an untidy search of the  homes each time.

Mr Allsop said: “In one, he   cooked food and slept in a  bed.”

Howard stole goods worth  £1,085 including a watch which  was an 18th birthday present.  He was linked to the crime by  DNA on a cigarette butt found in  a bedroom.

In another of the houses he  burgled, Howard slept in the  bed, ate food, used the bathroom  and stole a TV and other items  worth £2,250. He left a fingerprint on a mug there.

 He stole a computer and other  belongings worth £1,020 from a  third house, also eating food  and leaving a fingerprint  there.

A victim said in a statement:  “What was horrible was somebody was in our home. They  disregarded it was a nice house.  Pictures were ripped off the  wall, that was horrible and vindictive.”

Howard was arrested on  January 17 this year and 1.27 of  amphetamine was found in his  possession. His  previous convictions include the robbing  a  female bus driver in 2003, in  which he pressed the emergency door button to get  onto  the bus before hitting his victim  on the head with a baseball bat  and grabbing a cash box.

Defence counsel Gareth  Evans said his client was living  on the streets and addicted to  amphetamine at the time of his  burglary spree.

Another accomplice had been  involved, who the defendant did  not want to name to police.

Mr Evans added his client was  now free of drugs and the detective who drove him around  the city had praised him for his  cooperation.

Howard had written in his  police statement: “I would like  to apologise to the victims. I’m  doing all I can to change and  turn my life around.”

Recorder Sarah Munro QC  said she was giving him credit  for helping solve his crimes.

But she added the crimes  were a “violation of privacy.”