A 35-year-old has been jailed for four years after admitting 16 burglaries at homes in the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth area.

Tim Nevin, formerly of Surrey Street in Lowestoft, was charged with burglaries at Seago Street in the town on May 10 and Raglan Street on June 29 and asked for a number of other Suffolk and Norfolk offences to be taken into consideration - including nine other Lowestoft burglaries and five home burglary offences in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston dating back to 1995.

At Seago Street a camcorder, money boxes, jewellery, a mobile phone and documents were stolen while at Raglan Street two laptop computers, an iPad and jewellery were taken. A safe was also ripped from a wall at the Raglan Street home although neither this nor its contents were stolen.

Nevin was arrested after forensic evidence linked him to the scene of the Seago Street burglary.

He subsequently admitted being involved in burglaries in the town and took officers to where the laptops and iPad had been stashed and these items were recovered.

He initially admitted four offences including an attempted burglary at a home in Beaconsfield Road, Lowestoft between Monday, June 11 and Friday, June 15 and an incident in Arnold Street across the weekend June 2 and 3 where a china jug and saucer and a marble topped bedside table were taken from a house.

But officers continued to work with him and in the end he admitted a total of 11 Suffolk offences and seven offences in the Great Yarmouth area.

Among the other incidents are burglaries at homes in Lowestoft between Christmas Eve and June 21 this year where items including games consoles, computer games, jewellery, bags, cash and laptop computers were stolen.

There were also Gorleston burglaries in Limmer Road in 1997, Balliol Road in 2000 and Upper Cliff Road in 2011, and Great Yarmouth ones in North Denes Road in 1995 and Southampton Place in 1996.

There were also criminal damage offences in Great Yarmouth at Century Road in 1999 and at Isaac's Road in 2006.

Nevin formally pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court on July 12 and was sentenced to four years today.

Detective inspector Darrell Skuse, of Waveney CID, said: 'Nevin is another prolific burglar who has now been jailed.

'In recent months we have seen a significant fall in the number of home burglaries in Lowestoft and it's due in no small part to the fact that Nevin and others like him have been arrested and remanded.

'It was known that he had links to both east coast towns and he has admitted carrying out crimes which stretch back to 1995 while working with teams in Suffolk and Norfolk.

'We hope that the fact that he has been caught and jailed will go some way to provide his victims with some reassurance.'

Detective Sergeant Michael Roxby, of Norfolk Constabulary's Positive Outcome Unit, said: 'While most of the incidents in Great Yarmouth were committed several years ago, Nevin chose to clear his slate in the hope of a fresh start when he is released.

'Our Unit - and Operation Converter in Suffolk - work with individuals to encourage them to admit their offences with the aim of giving victims some peace of mind and offenders the chance of a more positive future when they have paid for their crimes.'