A burglar broke into a family's Cardiff home and stole in the region of £16,000 worth of jewellery and watches after smashing a window.
Connor Preece, 23, and two others targeted the home of Prebash Desai and his family in the Heath area of the city at around 6.20pm February 15 while they were out.
When they returned home they discovered the house had been broken into and an untidy search of the premises had been made with items strewn everywhere.
A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court on Friday heard the stolen items included eight watches, a gold chain, a diamond ring, 12 gold diamond pendants, eight gold diamond jewellery sets, five gold diamond bangles and £657 in cash. The total value of these items was around £16,000.
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The only item recovered by the police was a watch found in a garden allotment nearby, but the other items have not been recovered.
The police were called and viewed CCTV footage which showed three men arriving in a van and donning gloves and masks. They were seen 20 minutes later driving away. One of the men was seen discarding a cigarette and when tested for DNA they found profiles matching Preece and one of his co-defendants.
It was also discovered knives had been removed from the kitchen and left around the house. One of the knives were found to contain a DNA profile which matched with the defendant.
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Preece, of Port Madoc Road, Trowbridge, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to burglary. He has previous convictions for possession with intent to supply class A drugs, possession of a weapon, and possession of an imitation firearm.
Defence barrister Christopher Evans said his client wished to apologise to the victims and wished the burglary had never happened. He said the defendant had previously been attacked with boiling water at HMP Swansea and did not wish to be sent there.
Sentencing, Judge Richard Williams said: "The Desai family felt unsafe in their family home and have now spent money on security."
Preece was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment.
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