A brazen thief who raided post boxes 40 miles away from his home to steal Royal Ascot tickets has been jailed.

CCTV footage captured Vassim Aslam, 51, rifling through postboxes in a block of flats and pocketing people's letters before casually walking off.

Police found he'd stolen bank cards, Chelsea FC membership card and 18 tickets to Royal Ascot among other items.

He was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to 12 counts of burglary, one count of perverting the course of justice and one count of going equipped for theft.

Aslam, from Haringey, North London, raided the block of flats in Woking, Surrey, between May and October 2023.

Residents raised the alarm when they noticed they were missing post.

Police said CCTV was obtained showing a Aslam opening the letter boxes with master keys before he was seen leaving in a Vauxhall Zafira.

When he was arrested, cops found a fixed penalty notice, a Chelsea FC membership card, £1,765 in cash and two bank cards, all in different names and addresses.

They found further letters and bank cards in other people's names from different addresses across Surrey and London in his car.

They also found 18 tickets to Ascot races, tickets to Newbury racecourse, a baseball cap, three phones and an unspecified number of SIM cards, police said.

A search of his home address also found more bank cards and letters which were not in his name.

PC Iona King said: “We are aware the impact burglaries and fraud can have one our communities and we will continue to be robust in our approach to tackling such criminality.

“The team worked really hard to secure the evidence required to prove Vassim Aslam’s criminality not just in Surrey, but also London, and ensure he was brought to justice."

Surrey police said: "If you see anyone acting suspiciously in their communities, we urge you to report it to us. In an emergency, always call 999."