The Ramsgate jewellery heist was planned with the precision of a Laurel and Hardy comedy sketch.

The two-man team intended to carry out a smash and grab raid on Cuttings Jewellers in which they would snatch expensive watches.

After taking pictures of their proposed target, the duo wrapped themselves in dark coats, masks, balaclavas and hoodies.

Only when they mounted their little moped to carry out the daylight attack – they couldn’t fit crash helmets on their heads.

“They were driving around and around on a moped and neither of them was wearing a crash helmet, they were revving the engine... all it did was attract considerable attention from members of the public” - Chong's barrister

Then the rider put a pick axe between his legs and began circling the jewellers in Queen Street.

A judge heard how the moped muppets were so conspicuous, four shoppers dialled 999 before the raid could take place.

And when police swooped on the thieves, the rider managed to steer the machine into a lamppost, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

The two tried to escape on foot but were caught nearby after one of them ran into the arms of an off-duty police officer from the Met!

And police later discovered incriminating photographs on the rider’s mobile phone showing pictures of the jewellers.

One of the raiders is still on the run more than two years after the botched raid - but the second, the pillion passenger, has been jailed for two years after admitting conspiracy to burgle the shop in June 2013.

Father-of-two Mervin Chong – a former NatWest bank cashier from Tooting in London – claimed he had been recruited the day before.

His barrister Graham Lloyd told the judge, Recorder Neil Cameron QC, “It was a haphazard enterprise that had no possible chance of success. It was always doomed to fail.

“They were driving around and around on a moped and neither of them was wearing a crash helmet, they were revving the engine... all it did was attract considerable attention from members of the public.”

He said that Chong claimed he had been given the disguise to wear by his accomplice and told they were going to carry out a smash and grab raid – but he didn’t know which shop had been targeted.

On the day his trial was due to begin, Chong asked the judge to give an indication of the probable maximum sentence he would face for a guilty plea.

He then admitted the offence, hoping to be given a suspended jail sentence.

But the judge told him that there had been “considerable” planning for the raid and the two had taken a sledgehammer with them.

Prosecutor Claire Cooper said that passers-by saw the two on the moped at 9.30 am, with their heads and faces totally covered – other than eye-slits – riding past thejewellers...with the sledgehammer between the rider’s legs!

“Chong was a pillion passenger driven by another man. They were seen by a large number of people, four who alerted the police, after they were caught on CCTV driving past the jewellers three times in 20 minutes.

“And when officers arrived, the moped hit a lamppost and the two ran off – but were apprehended.”