A burglar who stole the ashes of a woman’s dead husband during a string of burglaries in the Colchester area has been described by a judge as “the lowest of the low.”

Jailing 37-year-old Carl Brown for four years and two months, Judge Emma Peters said: “Burglary is one of the most cruel and nasty offences which make people feel horribly unsettled in their own homes.

“When people lose loved ones some find a real emotional connection by keeping their ashes close to them but in this case you stole them.

“That makes you the lowest of the low,” she added.

Brown, of Clarendon Way, Colchester admitted 14 offences, including five offences of burglary, five of fraud, two offences of taking a car without consent and offences of theft and aggravated vehicle taking which were all committed between September 2020 and November 2021.

He also asked for eight offences to be considered, including a burglary during which a box containing the ashes of the victim‘s dead husband were stolen in Wivenhoe.

In addition to being jailed for 50 months he was banned from driving for 30 months.

The burglaries included two burglaries at houses in Butt Road, Colchester, while his victims slept upstairs.

One occupier woke up at 4am to see their front door open and discovered bank cards and their car had been taken, before noticing their card had been used at a nearby Co-op.

The car was later found in a damaged state resulting in the owner having to pay a £350 excess on his insurance policy.

Another homeowner woke up to find a child’s school bag containing four pairs of shoes, including ballet pumps and tapshoes, had been stolen by Brown

Other offences committed by Brown included the theft of beer and soft drinks during a burglary at the the Horse and Groom pub in Wivenhoe and taking a car from a driveway during a burglary at a house in Kings Meadow Road in Colchester.

Barry Gilbert for Brown said his client hadn’t deliberately stolen the ashes.

He said Brown had a mental disorder at the time of the offences linked to his drug use but he was now dealing with his drug problem.