A PROLIFIC teenage burglar is due to be sentenced Friday for another string of crimes. Adam Bishop-Bridges, from York Row, Sutton, will be sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court for house burglaries committed just weeks after he left prison. Bishop-Bridge

A PROLIFIC teenage burglar is due to be sentenced Friday for another string of crimes.

Adam Bishop-Bridges, from York Row, Sutton, will be sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court for house burglaries committed just weeks after he left prison.

Bishop-Bridges, formerly of Christopher Tye Close in Ely, was given a two-and-a half year jail sentence in January last year for more than 200 offences committed across Ely, Witchford, Sutton and Littleport.

The 19-year-old admitted 76 burglaries and 70 vehicle thefts, carried out over a three-year period.

Officers then visited him at the Glen Parva Young Offenders Institute where he admitted to another burglary and car theft, for which he was given another 35 days behind bars.

Bishop Bridges' modus operandi was to burgle family homes while its occupants were inside, taking expensive, small items such as credit cards, mobile phones, watches and games consoles. He often packed them into family cars and drove off with the goods inside.

Cambridgeshire Police have this month launched Operation Hamilton, to crack down on the county's burglary rate.

Det Insp Adam Gallop said there was little evidence that the burglary rate in the county was a direct result of the economic downturn.

"We have a significant amount of intelligence and information regarding who is committing burglary offences at the moment, and there are few surprises on the list of suspects. I therefore do not believe at present the current rise is down to people suddenly changing to a life of crime.

"There are people who are helping to fuel an increase in burglaries in the city. During this economic downturn some people may be encouraged to take advantage of cheap goods.

"Large amounts of the property that we are seeing stolen are electrical goods such as laptops, ipods, mobile phones, game consoles and games," he added.

"I would ask any member of the public who is offered cheap goods to consider where they have come from and the horror and nightmares some victims of burglary suffer.

"Burgling somebody's home is a highly intrusive and unpleasant crime, and those fuelling the demand for stolen goods by buying them are just as guilty as those committing the crime.