A TEENAGER admitted 30 burglaries after raiding homes across north Essex for years.

Simon Jacobs, who has already been locked up for holding up a family at gunpoint, decided to come clean about all his other crimes so he can make a fresh start when he is eventually freed.

Judge Christopher Ball, QC, imposed with a sentence which, in effect, means Jacobs won’t serve an extra day behind bars for any of these crimes, despite stealing almost £50,000 of items.

Jacobs, now 18, admitted one count of burglary. He asked for 35 other offences to be considered at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.

These included 11 house burglaries, 19 non-dwelling burglaries, four thefts and one count of criminal damage. The court heard Jacobs voluntarily asked to speak to police, from his cell, to clear up all other matters.

Following discussions, dozens of other crimes, mostly around Harwich, were solved. Jacobs was praised for his honesty.

On September 14 last year, he broke into a home in Harwich.

CCTV footage showed him entering with another man, while a couple were asleep upstairs.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard: Chelmsford Crown Court

Jacobs stole a driving licence, almost £200 cash and a watch. He admitted the burglary.

This, and the 35 other crimes, took place between June 2011 and September 2014. They began when he was just 14.

Judge Ball said: “This is an exercise driven by him. “The reality is if those matters had been dealt with previously, he may have got slightly longer.”

He sentenced Jacobs to 18 months in a young offenders’ institution, to be served concurrently with his other sentence.

In June, Jacobs got six years for aggravated burglary and robbery.

He was one of two men who burst into a house in West Street, Harwich, armed with what appeared to be a double barrelled shotgun.

Children were watching TV and there was a baby in the arms of the father when they were threatened.

The incident happened on September 27, 2014.

Jacobs had robbed the same man in an alley two months previously.

The judge told Jacobs: “You have some time to serve yet. It looks like you may be making some progress.”