Three wannabe robbers are behind bars after a failed robbery, which ended with a witness being stabbed and punched.

Christopher Bowman, Daniel Dos Santos and Silas Kelly attempted to break into a home in Gravesend in January due to a disagreement with the occupant.

But they failed in their attempt and a witness who tried to stop them running away was attacked and injured.

The trio were sentenced today at Woolwich Crown Court to a combined total of 21 years.

The court heard the offenders arrived at a property in Whitehill Lane at 4.55pm on January 17 and noticed their target was in a shed in the back garden.

They climbed over a fence to try to reach him but the occupant ran into his house and locked the door.

As the three offenders kicked at the back door a man heard the disturbance and walked over to see what was happening.

He saw Bowman, Dos Santos and Kelly jump over the garden fence and try to run away so he tried to grab one of them as he believed they had committed a crime.

One of the defendants launched an attack on the witness, punching him in the face and stabbing him in the thigh, which resulted in a deep cut.

At about 6.20pm the same day, Kelly was located in Jubilee Crescent and arrested in connection with the offence.

An investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate followed.

The investigation found Dos Santos and Bowman travelled to Gravesend from Hackney following a text conversation with Kelly.

The trio then met at a football pitch at 4.15pm and CCTV cameras then show them walking towards the address in Whitehill Lane.

Mobile phone data, along with witness statements, then placed Bowman and Dos Santos at the scene of the attempted robbery.

Bowman was arrested three days later at a property in Bow, London, and Dos Santos was arrested at his home address five days later.

Christopher Bowman, 19 of Ford Road in Bow, London, pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and conspiring to rob from another. He was found guilty of conspiring to rob from another and grievous bodily harm with intent. He was sentenced to a total of 10 years.

Daniel Dos Santos, 19, of Paragon Road in Shoreditch, London, pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and conspiring to rob from another. He was found guilty of conspiracy to rob from another and not guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent. He was sentenced to seven years.

Silas Kelly, 19, of Jubilee Crescent in Gravesend, pleaded guilty to conspiring to rob from another. He was sentenced to four years.

Passing sentence, the judge also commended the bravery of the witness for intervening.

Detective Sergeant Alastair Worton, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "The actions of these three men were violent and entirely senseless.

"They each made a conscious decision to try and rob a man at his own home and I have no doubt that, if they were successful, this man would have come to serious harm.

"An entirely innocent man, who tried to stop their offending, then went on to sustain a serious leg injury, which forced him to take time off work and put a considerable amount of stress on him and his family.

"These offences are reprehensible and I welcome the sentences that have been passed to remove these dangerous people from our streets."