A DUO who carried out a string of burglaries and thefts across four counties and London have been branded “spectacularly callous”.

Mark Taylor and Kathleen Cawley were jailed for a total of almost nine years after admitting 28 crimes.

In court, Judge John Plumstead described the catalogue of burglaries, distraction burglaries and thefts as “exceedingly serious”.

And he branded them “spectacularly callous” for tricking their way into the Hatfield home of a woman in her 80s, back in October 2009.

Cawley, 23, pretended to the victim she needed water for her baby, while her accomplice ransacked the property.

Both were sentenced at hearings at St Albans Crown Court.

Cawley, of Kings Close, Hendon, was jailed for four years.

Taylor, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to four years, 10 months.

Their crime spree took them across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Golders Green in London.

The case was investigated by detective constables Ben Dransfield and Rachael Gallagher.

Speaking after the pair were jailed, Dc Dransfield said: “The investigation involved nearly 30 offences committed by two people on a drug-fuelled rampage across four counties, leaving a trail of terror behind them.

“It took an enormous amount of work to detangle this web and eventually put it forward to the Crown for the case to be heard.

“We are delighted at this result and that these two are out of the public domain for this long, and their sentences serve as a severe warning to anyone involved in crime.”