Lewis Wood, 35, from Newport, was seen on multiple home security cameras quietly testing front doors across Elmwood Road, Maes Rhydden, Lodge Drive and Glan Hafryn during a late‑night spree in November and December.
The footage shows him moving methodically from property to property, checking handles and slipping into porches as families slept inside.
His final stop was a home on Church Road, where he found a set of car keys on a kitchen table and drove off in the family’s vehicle. The theft was discovered when the victim returned from an early‑hours dog walk to find the car gone.
Police traced Wood after reviewing hours of CCTV and doorbell footage. Officers later found the stolen car parked outside his home.
When arrested, Wood insisted he was “a car thief, not a burglar”, claiming he had only been looking for keys so he could drive home.
At Swansea Crown Court, prosecutors said Wood had been on licence at the time and already had 22 previous convictions for 78 offences, including six house burglaries and 11 counts of driving while disqualified. He also admitted three assaults at a Cardiff Bay restaurant last summer, where he lunged at a staff member and spat at two others after being asked to leave.
Wood pleaded guilty to three burglaries, ten attempted burglaries, theft of a motor vehicle, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and three counts of assault by beating. He was jailed for five years and three months.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told him the fear he caused was far more serious than the value of anything stolen.
(Image: South Wales Police)
Judge Paul Thomas KC said: “The real mischief of burglary is the feelings of insecurity victims suffer after having their homes invaded by a stranger. It seems the only way to stop you burgling people’s houses is to keep you in prison.”
He warned Wood that if he continued offending, “your daughter will grow up without you”.
South Wales Police said the sentence reflected the impact on the community.
DC Sam Tobin said: “Burglars and thieves like Lewis Wood are the sort of selfish people who make good people feel unsafe in their own home. He cared nothing for any of his victims, but his offending will have had a big effect on their lives.”
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5 years, for that. And someone smashes a couple of windows of a family home, records himself doing it and a car windscreen, threatens to kill everyone inside and he gets away with it. Where is the justice?