Two immigrants who netted £20,000 of goods and cash during 27 night raids on homes over a period of three months have been jailed.

Artan Doda, 23, of Bramcote Avenue, Mitcham, and 22-year-old Fran Doda, no relation, were in a gang who broke into homes by carefully removing windows using a screwdriver and chisel. They targeted homes near the A3 motorway in Surrey between January and March 2006.

Fran had a £500 a day drug habit, the court heard, and Artan, who was claiming benefits, was trying to pay for a car he bought his girlfriend.

He admitted using the stolen credit cards but claimed he was not aware of the burglaries.

He said he was paid to wait in the car while Fran went off for up to two hours with an empty bag and returned with it full.

The defendants twice stole keys to use nearby parked cars as getaway vehicles.

They were found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary at Guildford Crown Court in June.

A third man, Besnik Kastrati, believed to be from Brixton, is also alleged to have been involved in the burglaries but jumped bail after being arrested in February last year.

The men tried to withdraw cash with stolen credit cards at various cashpoints and were finally caught after police matched records of stolen credit cards with CCTV footage of a cashpoint.

Fran was an Albanian refugee who came to the UK aged 15, while Serbian Artan arrived in Britain in 2001.

Fran, of no fixed abode, was jailed for seven years and Artan was given five years when they were sentenced on August 8.

The judge also recommended both for deportation once their sentences had been served.

Fran was also given two concurrent sentences of 18 months for two burglaries committed in 2003 in Cheam and Harrow, plus a 12 month sentence for being caught in possession of 20 wraps of cocaine last January.

Recorder Jeremy Carter-Manning QC told the pair the burglaries were carried out with "pre-meditation, planning and professional sophistication".