A BURGLAR was traced after he left his toothbrush in a stolen sports car that was found smashed into a garden wall.

Luke Monk's overnight bag was in the front passenger seat footwell of the MG when an elderly woman discovered the car outside her Long Eaton home – having knocked down part of her wall.

The car had been taken from a street half a mile away.

Derby Crown Court heard that Monk, of Abbey Street, Derby, was banned from Long Eaton town centre when he committed the offence because of a robbery he had carried out in February 2007.

In the latest incident Monk, 21, burgled a property belonging to Robert Willis in Prince Street. The keys to Mr Willis's MG were stolen and Monk was a passenger in the MG when it crashed in Hillside Drive.

He admitted the offences and asked the judge to take into account nine other burglaries and a car theft.

The court heard the police would not have known he was linked to these other offences if he had not admitted them.

Sentencing Monk to 16 months in jail, Judge John Burgess said: "For a 21-year-old you have a dreadful record.

"Robert Wills (the burglary victim) and his partner were traumatised by what you did."

Sherrall Pickford, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Wills now lived in constant fear of someone burgling his house again.

In a statement to the police, Mr Wills said: "It has affected my whole life. It has knocked my confidence."

The car was completely written off.

Monk pleaded guilty to burglary and aggravated vehicle-taking.

Kevin Waddingham, in mitigation, said Monk was traced by the police because his DNA was found on a toothbrush in an overnight bag in the car.

"He went on to tell the police an enormous amount of what he had been doing," said Mr Waddingham.

Monk was also banned from driving for a year.