Jailed

An armed gang who viciously attacked two men during a burglary in Sittingbourne have been jailed for a total of more than 30 years.

One of the victims was threatened with a knife, beaten with a baseball bat and hit by a pellet from a BB gun during the incident at a house in Cortland Close on Tuesday 24th November 2015.

Two of the offenders jumped out of an upstairs window upon police arrival but were arrested shortly afterwards, as were their two accomplices.

A drug dealer has been jailed after cannabis, cocaine and cutting agents were seized by police following a search of his Sittingbourne home.

Richard Dawkins, aged 25, was clutching drug filled containers when he was stopped trying to flee his property in Burnham Close last year.

A search warrant was executed at the address on Friday 9th January, 2015, by officers connected to Kent Police's Operation Jupiter team. As the front door was being forced, Dawkins attempted to push past an officer waiting outside a back entrance.

A man who attempted to steal millions of pounds from a Swanley cash depot and computer chips from a consignment at Heathrow Airport has been jailed for a total of 11 years and three months.

38 years-old Karl Delaney, formerly of Sittingbourne, was part of a group of offenders who targeted the Loomis Cash Depot in Mark Way, Swanley, on Friday 23rd March 2012.

A teenager who injured two people attending a birthday party in Sittingbourne has been jailed for more than six years.

Billy Lee, aged 18 and of Quinton Roa in Sittingbourne, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court last Wednesday (14th October) to serve a total of six years, three months and two weeks in a young offenders' institute after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm and being found guilty of actual bodily harm.

Members of an organised local crime gang, who stole diggers and trailers worth a total of more than £185,000, have been jailed.

Matthew Butler, 36, of South Street Road, in Stockbury; Nigel Black, 52, of Warden Road in Eastchurch and Ashley Austin, 24, of Essex Road in Maidstone, were all involved in the thefts from a storage compound in Bircholt Road, Maidstone, in December 2012.

A drug addict who stole a purse from a disabled woman under the guise of helping her has been jailed for 21 months.

Matthew Beaney, of no fixed address, was imprisoned by a judge at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday (11th June). The 29 year old had pleaded guilty to one count of theft.

A teenage burglar has been jailed for two years after stealing a car and crashing it into someone's house in Sittingbourne.

18-year-old Jimmy Avery, of Woodbury Avenue in Murston, was sentenced on Friday 31st January, at Maidstone Crown Court, to 29 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary, one of theft, taking a vehicle without authority and aggravated vehicle taking. He was also banned from driving for 12 months.

A compulsive gambler, who swindled clients out of more than £750,000 by offering incredible deals on high profile sporting events, has been jailed for three years and four months.

James Edward Maxwell, who ran three Sittingbourne-based sports memorabilia and hospitality companies, "spun a staggering web of lies in order to persuade wealthy clients and charities to hand over cash, including claims that his young son had been diagnosed with cancer" according to Kent Police.

A 24-year-old man from Teynham has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he was involved in a fatal road traffic collision in which a teenager died.

Robert Lawrence, 24, of Barrow Green in the village, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday (27th February) after having pleaded guilty to charges of failing to stop after an accident and perverting the course of justice. He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.

A Sittingbourne woman has been jailed for 18 months after admitting stealing almost £200,000 from her employers over five years.

Karen Tracey Knowles, of Ferry Road in Iwade, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday 13th February after pleading guilty to fraud by misrepresentation.