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A teenage girl who nicknamed herself ‘The Ninja’ was jailed after looting 34 homes.

Katie Gilsenan, 18, from St Helens, joined up with three men to bust into properties across three counties, between September and December last year.

The spree, which netted them £320,000, targeted addresses in Cheshire, Wigan, Bolton and St Helens.

Christmas presents from under two separate families’ trees were stolen

The gang’s method involved breaking into homes to steal car keys, then driving away with the vehicles, before putting cloned or stolen registration plates on them.

Gilsenan, who on Facebook dubbed herself a “Ninja after hours of being a full time f****** legend”, pleaded guilty to burglary at Warrington Crown Court.

Her accomplices, Simon Bosworth, 27, of Wyredale Avenue, St Helens, Kevin Andrews, 29, and Kyle Andrews, 23, both of no fixed address, were locked up five years four months, six years and five years two months respectively.

Gilsenan, of Belvedere Avenue, was arrested in December, 2014, but it has taken just over a year for all four members to be sentenced.

Gilsenan was jailed for three years at Warrington Crown Court after pleading guilty to burglary.

Det Sgt Nigel Rigby, from Greater Manchester Police, said after the case: “This was a joint operation between us and Cheshire Police to put an end to the spate of burglaries being committed by this group.

“The levels of research attached to the locating and selection of suitable ‘cloned’ number plates displayed a high level of organised criminality.

“They showed no signs of stopping whatsoever and two families were devastated to discover that their wrapped Christmas presents had been stolen from beneath the Christmas tree.

“Their motive was purely financial and their desire to acquire items of high value, ultimately lead to their downfall when some of these items were recovered upon their arrest.”

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