A prolific burglar has been jailed for four years after officers used a mobile phone app to track him.

Darren Pugh, 42, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four years for three counts of burglary, and 12 months for one count of vehicle theft, to run concurrently, at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday November 16.

At around 2am on Saturday October 14, Pugh broke into a property in Malgraves, Pitsea, and stole a laptop. Shortly, he broke into a second home in Stokefelde, Pitsea, where he stole the victim’s iPhone and car. Pugh then drove off before breaking into a third property in Hockley Road, Basildon.

Police spoke to the victim of the second burglary, who was awoken by Pugh and gave chase as he stole her car, used the ‘Find My Phone’ app to locate the stolen phone to Brownlow Bend, Basildon. 

Investigating officer Dc Matthew Musson, of Basildon CID, said: “Pugh broke into three homes in the space of an hour, searching through the properties and waking all the occupants who alerted police.

“Fortunately, one of the victims quickly accessed an application on her computer that could tell her where her phone was.

“We drove to that location where we found Pugh in a garden carrying a screw driver and in possession of a stolen phone, laptop and car keys. He admitted the offences at the scene and just months later in court before being jailed.”