Lukas Boboic made five trips to the West Country and stole more than £100,000 worth of jewellery and cash from homes he broke into.

A Polish burglar has been jailed for raiding 15 homes in Devon – including in Honiton - to fund his attempts to dodge deportation.

Lukas Boboic made five trips to the West Country and stole more than £100,000 worth of jewellery and cash from homes he broke into.

He stayed at hotels in Exmouth and Kennford and carried out up to eight raids during a five-day visit. Many of the homes belonged to pensioners and their jewellery had immense sentimental value to them.

Boboic is a Polish citizen who would normally have been entitled to live in Britain under European Union freedom of movement rules.

He was deported because he has committed 23 offences since coming to Britain in 2008, including two previous house burglaries.

He returned illegally shortly before he started his eight month crime spree in July 2016. The first break-in was exactly a week before the Brexit referendum vote.

He broke into houses at Honiton, Ottery St Mary, West Hill, Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth, Okehampton, Mary Tavy and Tavistock.

Boboic, aged 25, of Park Croft, Polegate, East Sussex, admitted 15 burglaries and was jailed for three and a half years by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court.

He will start the sentence after he completes a six year term imposed at Lewes Crown Court for a robbery in Sussex in January.

The judge told Boboic: “Each and every one of these offences had a victim and each and every victim suffered loss. In many cases they lost items which simply could not be replaced because they had sentimental value.

“I have read the victim impact statements. These offences were against not only the public, but more particularly against occupiers who were frequently elderly.

“It has been suggested that on your visits to Devon, having hired a car and booked a hotel in advance, you simply decided to carry out these burglaries on a whim. I do not accept that.

“Burglaries of this nature, when the total number are taken together, require a substantial term of imprisonment.”

The Honiton burglaries were at: July 2016 - Ridgeway, Buttery Road; January 2017 – Ridgeway, Pine Grove.