A PROLIFIC burglar has been caged for four-and-a-half years after squandering the chance to turn his life around.

Dean Sarney, 26, of Parkhouse Court, Hatfield, had been given a place on a programme called Choices and Consequences (C2), after he admitted carrying out 243 burglaries across Hertfordshire between November 2000 and January 2009.

However, after burgling a house in April to fund drugs, he was removed from the programme – which is run by the county’s criminal justice board – and jailed.

Speaking yesterday (Monday) after Sarney was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court, detective inspector Stuart Campfield said: “Dean had the opportunity to turn his life around by being on the C2 programme.

“He was given support by many agencies and he had turned his life around in the last 15 months.

“He was volunteering and he had settled down after years of burgling.”

“However, he unexpectedly burgled a house in Hertford to fund drugs after months of being clean and this clearly made him ineligible to remain on the programme.”

Det insp Campfield added: “Judge Griffiths sentenced Sarney for his original offending, which he committed while on licence, and the recent burglary in April this year.

“The sentence he received was always hanging over him whilst he was on the Choices and Consequences programme. “There are strict conditions and committing more crime is clearly unacceptable.

“However, as a result of C2, he has told us about dozens of additional burglaries, which may otherwise have remained undetected.

“This I hope offers some reassurance to victims of these burglaries, who have been informed of progress in this case and shows that if candidates are not committed, we will not give them the opportunities C2 offers.”