'Barefoot Bandit' Jailed For Crime Spree

A serial burglar dubbed the "barefoot bandit" has been jailed in the US for more than seven years for his two-year crime spree.

School drop-out and self-taught pilot Colton Harris-Moore broke into dozens of homes and stole cars, boats and planes across nine states and British Columbia from 2008 to 2010.

The 20-year-old earned his nickname by carrying out the string of thefts and burglaries sometimes in bare feet.

He was sentenced to 87 months behind bars after pleading guilty to 32 charges.

Harris-Moore was captured in the Bahamas in July 2010 after crash-landing a stolen aircraft he had flown from Indiana.

Despite signing a film deal with 20th Century Fox, he will not able to make any money himself from selling his life story .

However, \$1.3m (£0.8m) in proceeds from the movie deal has been earmarked to repay his victims.

Sentencing, Judge Vickie Churchill said the case was "a tragedy but it's also a triumph in the human spirit", referring to his difficult childhood which she described as "little better than a dog's".

She went on: "I could have been reading about the history of a mass murderer.

"I could have been reading about a drug abusive, alcoholic young man. That is the triumph of Colton Harris-Moore - he has survived."

Standing with his wrists shackled, a pale-looking Harris-Moore spoke quietly as he formally entered the guilty pleas in a packed courtroom.

He did not address the court but took "full responsibility" for his actions in a letter to the judge.

"My childhood was one that I would not wish on my darkest enemies," Harris-Moore said in the letter.

"I wish not to point fingers or enumerate through the gamut of issues, however, my thirst for knowledge cries for help, and coming of age was met with inept parents suffering from drugs and alcohol."

Prosecutor Greg Banks said he was aware of Harris-Moore's "extremely sad upbringing" but insisted he displayed a "brazen disrespect for the law".