A 16-year-old boy sentenced to almost two years in youth custody for a burglary spree in Bristol has failed to persuade Appeal Court judges his sentence was too harsh.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, committed 16 burglaries in Bristol over four months in the early part of last year.

He broke into homes before taking car keys and stealing vehicles.

At Bristol Crown Court in October last year he was sentenced to two overlapping terms of detention, making a total of 23 months.

He had pleaded guilty to burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and without insurance, and asked for 15 further burglaries to be taken into consideration.

The youth launched an appeal against the sentence, with his lawyers arguing at London's Criminal Appeal Court it was too long for a boy of his age in the circumstances.

The court heard the youth was caught by police having crashed one of two cars he and his associates had stolen from a house in Glenburn Road, Kingswood, on April 24.

Goods worth £2,500 were taken in that raid and after his arrest the youth admitted being involved in 15 other burglaries between January and April last year.

His lawyers asked Lord Justice Toulson, sitting with Mr Justice Bean and Judge James Paget QC, to reduce the total sentence.

But Lord Justice Toulson dismissed the appeal, saying: "He had committed a very large number of burglaries in a short amount of time, each one of which must have caused disruption, misery and a sense of invasion to the householders.

"The overall sentence cannot be regarded as manifestly excessive, or wrong in principle."