A PROLIFIC Lithuanian thief living in Bridgwater could be deported back to his home country, after being jailed for a 'campaign of burglary'.

Vitalijus Rolduginas, 27, of Sydenham Road, admitted stealing around £15,000 worth of jewellery, cash and electrical goods in a string of house burglaries across Sedgemoor between September and November last year.

He was sentenced at Taunton Crown Court on Friday to four years in prison.

The court heard that Rolduginas - who was sentenced to seven years for manslaughter in his home country back in 2000 - was arrested by police after a car spotted around the time of a burglary near Taunton was linked to him.

Items from another burglary at a house in Wedmore were then recovered in a search of his house.

Police officers then drove Rolduginas around various villages in the district, where he admitted to seven more burglaries - including in Lympsham, Middlezoy, Ashcott, Chilton Polden and East Huntspill.

Harry Ahuja, defending, said Rolduginas was battling to support a partner and two daughters back home in Lithuania.

He said Rolduginas had been made redundant and had a number of debts.

Mr Ahuja also pointed to Rolduginas' early guilty plea and his willingness to help police identify more of his burglaries.

Judge Graham Hume Jones said he did not have the power to send Rolduginas back to Lithuania, but would strongly recommend he be deported.

Judge Hume Jones said: “You went on a determined campaign to burgle people's houses purely for financial gain for yourself.

“Burglary of people's houses is regarded as very serious indeed. Anyone who has been burgled feels their life has been defiled.”