Kent Police

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.

Four teenagers have been arrested as Kent Police officers continue their work on Operation Castle, their force-wide crackdown on burglary and vehicle crime.

Officers executed warrants and swooped on suspected burglars in theSittingbourne area, with four arrests since the weekend.

A suspected burglar has been arrested within minutes of police being called to an alleged burglary in progress in Sittingbourne.

Kent Police were called at about 11.00pm on Monday (28th January) to a report that a garage was being burgled in Harrier Drive.

Officers attended and at 11.10pm arrested a 20-year-old man, from Sittingbourne, on suspicion of burglary and theft.

The suspect currently remains in custody.

Kent Police are appealing for witnesses after computer equipment worth almost £100,000 was stolen from a trailer in Hernhill on Tuesday 22nd January.

The trailer, part of a heavy goods vehicle, was parked in a road off Plum Pudding Lane between 7.30pm and 10.10pm, when 320 white Archos 10.1 XS computer tablets of 16 gigabytes, worth £299 each, were stolen.

Two prisoners, who absconded from HMP Standford Hill in Eastchurch on Wednesday (2nd January), are being urgently sought by Kent Police.

Anthony Hogan, aged 50 and from South London, is 5ft 7ins tall, medium build with balding hair and Nicky Gale, aged 29 and from Dartford, is slim and bald, with a scar on his left temple and a scar on his left hand. It is not known if they escaped together.

Members of the public are advised not to approach either men but to advise the police of any sightings by phoning 999.