A TEENAGE burglar broke into a family’s home while they slept, stealing a stash of wrapped Christmas presents.

The owner of the house in Bigwood Avenue, Hove, woke to hear the sound of his wife’s car reversing on the drive.

He looked out of the window to see Harry Avis, 18, driving away at about 4am on November 24.

He jumped in his own car to drive around looking for him, meanwhile his wife discovered that a stash of wrapped Christmas presents had been taken from the porch of the house.

The Peugeot 307 car was later found abandoned in Twineham Close, Whitehawk, just around the corner from Avis’s home.

At the same time officers realised Avis, 18, had breached his electronic tag, fitted after a previous spell in prison. When officers searched his home they found a key fitting the Peugeot.

Avis, of Linchmere, Swanborough Drive, Brighton, admitted the burglary.

He was released on conditional bail to be sentenced on March 16.