A violent burglar who punched a man to the ground and threatened him with a knife in an attempted robbery in High Wycombe has been jailed for more than six years.

Zohaib Mahmood, 22, from Roundwood Road, Wycombe, was sent down after pleading guilty to four counts of burglary, while a jury also convicted him of attempted robbery.

In an “unprovoked” and “violent” attack in Rutland Avenue in January last year, the thief demanded a 31-year-old man’s belongings after punching him to the ground and holding out a knife.

In this case, when a member of the public intervened, Mahmood ran away.

But, while on bail he committed at least five burglaries across the town with some crimes being committed while the homeowners slept upstairs - something he only admitted after he was found guilty of the earlier attack.

Over a six month period, he burgled properties in Cressex Road, Arundel Road, Gordon Road and Albion Road, while he also asked a burglary in Bookerhill Road to be taken into consideration when the judge passed sentence.

In each burglary, he forced entry into the properties and carried out messy searches, before stealing expensive items like laptops, jewellery and cigarettes. In some of the cases, the occupants of the properties were asleep upstairs, officers said.

Investigating officer, Det Con Alex Kratky from High Wycombe local CID, said: “I am satisfied that the sentence passed today reflects the seriousness of offences that Zohaib Mahmood has committed and hopefully this will go some way in providing the victims of his crimes with some closure.

“Following an unprovoked and particularly violent robbery in January last year, the investigation led to Mahmood being identified and charged, after which he maintained his innocence and elected to take the case to trial.

“Whilst on court bail for this, he has gone on to commit at least five burglaries to various residential properties across High Wycombe, one of which was during the night whilst the occupants were upstairs, which was terrifying experience for them.

“Some excellent joint investigations by all the teams at local CID in High Wycombe ensured that Mahmood was linked and charged for four burglary offences.

“On January 9, following his trial at Aylesbury Crown Court, the jury found Zohaib Mahmood guilty of attempted robbery.

“He was then faced with a lengthy prison sentence and he has finally put his hands up and accepted his guilt for all four burglaries. Further to this he admitted a fifth burglary just hours before his sentencing.

“I’d like to thank all the victims and witnesses for their courage and patience, all the High Wycombe police officers involved and especially to the team at local CID, High Wycombe.”

He was sentenced to four and a half years’ imprisonment for the attempted robbery and 12 months’ imprisonment for two burglaries and 15 months’ imprisonment for the two other burglaries.

The burglary sentences will run concurrently to each other but consecutively to the attempted robbery sentence, meaning he was sentenced to a total of six years and nine months’ imprisonment.