A 20-YEAR-OLD man has admitted taking part in more than 15 raids on convenience stores across the county.

Matthew Brown was part of a gang of burglars who ramraided the Subway sandwich store in Watchfield, near Shrivenham, on September 15.

Cathy Olliver, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court yesterday four men drove through the shop front in a silver Volvo, but escaped empty-handed before setting the car on fire in a nearby village.

Brown admitted burglary with intent and asked for 18 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Among them were 14 burglaries and four attempted burglaries, including raids on the Co-op store in Milton-under-Wychwood, Budgens in Faringdon, and Co-ops in Deddington, Chipping Norton, Watlington and Long Hanborough.

The burglary in Long Hanborough on September 4 yielded £500 in cash, and cigarettes worth £3,000 were stolen in the Budgens raid on August 31.

Sophie Murray, defending, said her client “got involved in the wrong sort of crowd” and supplemented his income with burglaries when he was not working.

She added: “He realises the error of his ways.”

Brown, of Merrydale Square, Northampton, is currently serving four years’ youth detention for burglary, theft and handling stolen goods.

Judge Christopher Compston gave him another two years’ detention, concurrent to his existing sentence.