A thief who swiped a £150,000 bronze statue after dragging it from a country estate with a stolen Land Rover has been jailed.

Jack Strover destroyed the 600kg bronze works of three dancing women wearing hare masks while making the getaway near Tenterden.

The 34-year-old, who made off with one of the figures to sell "for scrap," has been jailed at Canterbury Crown Court.

The Sophie Ryder piece, weighing about 200kg per figure, disappeared from Budds House's driveway near Tenterden on an evening in January last year.

Two figurines were later discovered dumped in a nearby ditch, leaving the whole statue smashed beyond repair.

Footage of the broken statue taken by Kent Police

Strover, of no fixed abode, used a Discovery 4x4 stolen from a property in Great Chart near Ashford moments before carrying out the raid.

“The statue was cast in bronze with three figures weighing at least 200kg in weight," prosecutor Emin Kandola said.

“The Land Rover was used to rip that statue from the ground and drag it away.”

CCTV footage taken from inside the grounds situated in Wittersham at about 9pm showed officers how the crime unfolded.

“The Land Rover can be seen leaving the scene, dragging the statue along with it, damaging the gate.

“A resident heard the loud revving and a bang and saw the 4x4 and heard some male voices,” Ms Kandola continued.

The eye-witness’s car was also written-off.

Cell site analysis led police to Strover and he was arrested 11 days later, the court heard.

The missing piece of the statue has not been recovered.

Handing down a two year sentence on Friday the judge, Recorder Matthew McDonagh, told Strover: "That Land Rover Discovery was used in a more serious theft of a bronze statue from Budds House later that day.

"That bronze statue was substantial in size, three figures, a value of £150,000.

"You and your accomplice tied that up to the back of the Land Rover Discovery.

"The weight was too much, two of those figures were destroyed, you made off with one figure."

Nicholas Hamblin, mitigating, argued the raid “was amateurish,” with the statue targeted for scrap metal, rather than being sold "as a work of art."

"The weight was too much, two of those figures were destroyed, you made off with one figure..."

He added Strover, who has 29 convictions for 62 offences, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft before trial and intended on using the metal to pay a drugs debt.

And although the crime was committed by a group he "didn't play a leading role," Mr Hamblin said.

Appearing remotely from HMP Elmley, Strover, of no fixed abode, interrupted proceedings to announced he intended to sell the statue "for scrap."

Ms Ryder, 59, famed for sculptures of mythical creatures made out of bronze, resin, wire and marble, created the statue.

Her works have been exhibited across the UK, Europe and the US, with Lady Hare being her most famous works.