Gledis Uka, 30, of no fixed address, admitted 19 offences at Maidstone Crown Court after smashing his way into homes in Edenbridge, Sevenoaks and across seven other counties.
A 30-year-old Albanian national has been jailed for a decade after admitting 19 burglaries targeting homes across southern England. Maidstone Crown Court heard Uka faced 33 charges in total; two further offences were taken into consideration and the others will remain on file.
Kent Police arrested Uka in Essex on 30 January 2026 and charged him the following day. It had taken investigators more than two years to build the forensic case against him — blood found at break-ins in Edenbridge and Sevenoaks eventually linking him to properties across Berkshire, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Essex, London, Suffolk and Surrey.
The trail started in December 2023. Two separate break-ins in Edenbridge, both involving smashed windows and doors and stolen jewellery, produced blood samples at the scene. Over the next two years, until November 2025, more burglaries with the same hallmarks came in from Edenbridge and Sevenoaks, and forensic work gradually tied every offence to one man.
Officers noticed a pattern. Uka is believed to have travelled to England each winter, offending between October and January before disappearing until the following year.
In one case a victim was at home when he broke in. Kent Police described it as a “terrifying ordeal”. Sentimental items were among the stolen possessions.
Detective Constable Celia King said her team had shown “perseverance and dedication” across more than two years of work. Uka, she said, had shown “no remorse” — leaving properties smashed and in a mess. But the “years of hard work has paid off,” she added, thanking victims across the country and partner forces for their help.