Three burglars have been jailed after they raided a village post office and newsagents and stole £3,000 worth of cigarettes.

Jason Bowers, Arthur Jones and Jack Lee wore balaclavas and took a crowbar with them to break into Paydens in Ashford Road, Bearsted.

As well as stealing the cigarettes and tobacco, they caused about £3,000 of damage on June 5 last year.

A resident heard them breaking in and called the police. Jones and Lee were arrested soon afterwards, while Bowers escaped in a car and was not caught for two weeks.

During that time he burgled an outbuilding and stole an expensive drill.

Bowers, of Pear Tree Walk, Newington, was jailed for three years and 10 months. Jones, 50, of Meads Avenue, Sittingbourne, was jailed for two years and three months. And Jack Lee, 46, of Quinton Road, Sittingbourne, was given a two-year sentence.

All three admitted burglary. They denied a further charge of kidnapping, and the prosecution offered no evidence on the charge.

Bowers, 44, also admitted burgling the outbuilding and dangerous driving when trying to avoid arrest.

Recorder Mark Van Der Zwart said the post office was targeted deliberately and there was “significant planning”.

Bowers was sentenced to 34 months for the burglaries and 12 months consecutive for dangerous driving. He was disqualified for 18 months.

A judge told them when passing sentence: “You are all old enough to know better.”

Requests for pre-sentence reports on Jones, a 50-year-old grandfather, and Lee, a 46-year-old father-of-three, were refused by Recorder Mark Van Der Zwart.

Robert De Bancy, for Jones, said his client had stayed out of trouble for six years before reoffending.

He had become depressed after a 27-year relationship ended acrimoniously.

Jones suffered from a medical condition which led to him having toes amputated.

Lee had been given a drug rehabilitation order in the past, said his lawyer James Ross.
John Fitzgerald, for Bowers, told Recorder Van Der Zwart: “You won’t be surprised to learn his background is heroin addiction, which has plagued him for 20 years.

“It won’t be long before he is methadone and drug free.”

The father-of-two, he said, had been a serving prisoner when a DNA match linked him to the burglary. When released, he was arrested again at the prison gates.