A DJ turned to burgling homes at night as victims slept after he struggled to finance his £1,000-a-week cocaine habit, a court heard.

Kyle Millsom, 21, at first pawned his expensive DJ equipment and bought it back when he earned enough.

But his drug habit became out of control and his dealer suggested that he should break into houses, take cars from outside and leave them to be collected, said his lawyer Alexia Zimbler.

Millsom, of Windmill Street, Rochester, was jailed for four years after admitting eight burglaries, two attempted burglaries and four thefts of cars between August last year and January.

He asked for five other offences - two burglaries and three attempted burglaries - to be considered after being taken on a “drive around” by police.

Maidstone Crown Court was told they were mostly “creeper burglaries”, so called because the intruder creeps around homes while the occupants are asleep.

"Millsom was a one-man crime wave who caused misery and distress to dozens of victims..." - Det Con Daniel Bister

He broke into homes in Coltstead, New Ash Green, High Street, Halling, Montfort Road, Prospect Avenue and Pennant Road, Rochester, Toronto Road, Cleave Road and Canadian Avenue, Gillingham.

Prosecutor Edmund Fowler said Millsom’s modus operandi was usually to “pop open” PVC doors to enter homes.

After a burglary in High Street, Halling, an Adidas trainer footprint was found. CCTV film showed Millsom wearing such footwear and he was arrested.

Miss Zimble said Millsom had “had more than his fair share of problems”. He was put into care at the age of four.

He began smoking cannabis at the age of 15. He went to Canterbury College and took a musical technology course.

When he started working as DJ he was partying and started taking MDMA (ecstasy) and then cocaine.

Miss Zimble continued: “He was earning enough money to continue that lifestyle, but his cocaine habit increased. By the end of 2012 it was a very serious habit. The money didn’t cover the cost.

“He pawned his DJ equipment and hoped to earn enough money to buy it back. It got to the point where he could no afford to do so.

“His cocaine habit was about £900 to £1,000 a week by that stage. His dealer said the way to do it was to burgle houses. That is effectively what happened for the next six months.”

Millsom had not touched drugs since his arrest. He planned to go to Southampton University in September but would now have to delay it, said Miss Zimbler.

"When you are alone in bed at night and hear someone downstairs you don’t have the faintest idea whether it is a psycho with a knife..." - Judge Jeremy Carey

“Drugs aside, he is very intelligent,” she added. “The last few months have changed his life.”

Judge Jeremy Carey said of the burglaries: “When you are alone in bed at night and hear someone downstairs you don’t have the faintest idea whether it is a psycho with a knife. You just don’t know.

“And when you don’t know it frightens the life out of you. It never goes away. You never have the same confidence it won’t happen again.

“The courts know that. No amount of mitigation of the kind I have heard today is ever going to detract from that very significant aspect.”

The judge told Millsom: “You were a prolific burglar over a period of many months.

“This kind of offending has potentially a very deep-seated, long-term effect on victims, who are entitled to expect that when they close their front door at night they are safe.

“It is no mitigation at all you had a drug habit. In fact, it is an aggravating feature. The use of pernicious drugs is amply demonstrated in this case. You seemed to be out of control.”

After the sentencing, investigating officer Detective Constable Daniel Bister said: "Millsom was a one-man crime wave who caused misery and distress to dozens of victims.

"He left them feeling unsafe in their own homes and showed absolutely no regard for their feelings.

"Weeks of meticulous detective work was required in order to link Millsom to each of these offences.

"Once he had been charged with those, he quickly realised the gravity of his situation and admitted to a string of other crimes.

"The length of his sentence should go some way towards showing other burglars how serious these offences are.

"Kent Police has dedicated burglary teams of specialist detectives and we will use every tool at our disposal to bring offenders to justice."

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