A Shropshire man today revealed how he has turned his life around after beating a £400-a-day heroin addiction which led to him burgling dozens of homes across the county.

Kevin Offland, 30, of Woodside, Telford, turned into one of the county’s most prolific burglars to fund his drug addiction and despite being put behind bars several times he failed to stop.

But after 23 months of being drug-free, Mr Offland is urging youngsters to stop and think before they start on what he said was a spiral of decline.

He went from shoplifting as a teenager and trying cannabis to burgling his own family to fund his addiction which nearly saw him accidentally kill himself by overdosing.

Mr Offland is now on the prolific and other priority offender list which puts him under the surveillance of a new specialist team of Telford detectives to stop him re-offending.

After getting his own flat and winning his battle against drug addiction, his says his next aim is to get off the PPO list.

He tells his story in the Shropshire Star today as Telford police hailed the force’s Operation Protect a success. It was staged last week to target prolific burglars and thieves.

Crime prevention surgeries were held throughout the week and patrols were stepped up to target offenders.

A number of arrests were made throughout the week, Telford police said.