A railway engineer who went off the rails and raided three shops, smashing his way in with a crowbar, has been jailed for four years and two months.

James Murphy broke into Gemini Jewellers, stealing £12,000 worth of stock, and a Co-op store, both in Sheerness High Street, as well as another Co-op in London.

Murphy, of Lapwing Close, Minster, was sentenced on Friday with Jerry Rateau, of Islington, north London, and Stuart Boyle, of Walthamstow, east London, accomplices for the Sheerness Co-op break-in.

Murphy, 35, admitted conspiracy to burgle the jewellers and the two other burglaries. Rateau, 38, and Boyle, 30, admitted burgling the Sheerness Co-op.

Rateau was jailed for 14 months and father-to-be Boyle was sentenced to 14 months suspended for two years with a tagged curfew from 8pm to 5am for six months.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Murphy and two others wore hard hats and hi-vis jackets in the first burglary at a Co-op in Denmark Hill, south east London, on January 26 last year, to make it appear they were workmen.

Prosecutor Danny Moore said the three were captured on CCTV cameras breaking open the shutters. Murphy and one of the other men went in.

They looked around and left after about six minutes. A discarded crowbar had Murphy’s DNA on it.

When arrested, he claimed his work clothes had been stolen. He was bailed.

"He now has more than four years behind bars in which to consider the consequences of his actions..." - DC Freddie Elspass-Collins

Mr Moore said there were two witnesses to the burglary of Gemini Jewellers in the early hours of June 23 and there was CCTV from a nearby shop.

Bolt cutters were used to open the metal shutters. Windows were smashed and a large amount of jewellery was stuffed into a builder’s sack.

It was discovered that the BMW car used by the three had been stolen from a driveway earlier that night. It had false number plates.

Police searched Murphy’s home and seized telephones which contained significant messages. He was arrested and again bailed.

Murphy, Rateau and Boyle then broke into the Co-op in Sheerness in the late evening of November 30.

The manager, who lived nearby, heard the alarm and saw a Mercedes in the car park. She went to the shop and saw that the front door had been forced open.

As the police went to the scene they saw the car drive past them. It was stopped and Rateau and Boyle were arrested.

Mr Moore said the CCTV footage showed that Rateau was the lookout. A crowbar was used to force over the door. Damage was caused to a cash machine inside, but they fled empty-handed.

Officers searched the area and found two gas bottles with tubes attached, thought to be for cutting into the cash machine. A crowbar found had Murphy’s DNA on it.

After sentencing, Detective Constable Freddie Elspass-Collins said: "The fact Murphy planned and committed this offence while on bail for two others demonstrates his inability to learn from his mistakes.

"He now has more than four years behind bars in which to consider the consequences of his actions."