A demolition course college student who stole tools worth thousands of pounds from a construction site at a church has been jailed for 16 months.

Kevin Hodges, 23, was blasted by a judge at Maidstone Crown Court for targeting hard-working tradesmen as “easy-pickings”.

Judge Jeremy Carey also told Hodges that his break-in at St Mary’s Church in Chalk was a “particularly ugly offence” in light of where it took place.

Hodges, of Manor Road, Swanscombe, admitted burglary and damaging property in November last year.

The court heard he stole £5,500 worth of tools from a metal container, including a generator, rotary laser, saws, trowels and diamond saw blade, and damaged a five-ton roller by cutting the dashboard with a picksaw in an attempt to start it.

Hodges’s DNA was found on the tool vault.

Jailing him, Judge Carey said: “It is an irony in these kind of cases that the very people who are trying to earn an honest living, getting up early in the morning, working hard on sites, completing a job and doing it with pride are the victims of people like you who actively prefer to steal and get easy-pickings.

“It is, in my judgement, a particularly ugly offence, not least having regard to the fact these were church premises and considerable efforts were made to get the building work done.”

Throughout the hearing, which took place with Hodges appearing in court via a video link with HMP Elmley in Sheppey, Hodges was seen to repeatedly smirk, a fact picked up on by the judge.

“While you sit there in the relative comfort of Elmley Prison, smiling away from time to time and not appearing to be particularly engaging in these proceedings, let me make it clear to you that your victims are real people and there are real effects and real consequences,” he said.

Hodges, who has previous convictions for attempted theft, theft and handling stolen goods, was told that upon release he will be subject to 12-months’ supervision by the probation service.

Any breach could lead to a further spell behind bars.

John Fitzgerald, defending, said there was little mitigation. “The explanation, for what it’s worth, can be found in his antecedents. Cannabis had become a problem for this man and he found himself stealing to fund his habit.”