A gang of balaclava-clad copper thieves nearly shutdown a Kent business after causing £30,000 worth of damage during a raid.

Costel Coscodaru, 25, Mihai Florin, 19, and Marih Iliahca, 39, fled Goody Demolition in Aylesham after stripping £1,500 worth of the metal.

But a police helicopter scrambled shortly after the alarms were raised soon traced the trio trying to escape through nearby marshland.

All three were handed 31 months custody at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to burglary.

During the raid they were part of a five-strong gang that left £30k worth of damage in their wake. The other two have not been found.

Judge Rupert Lowe told the trio: “This was a nasty professional burglary with a savage disregard for someone else’s business in a country that was hosting you.

“In these circumstances, foreign nationals who come here and commit crime, causing enormous loss, the near closure of a business and deep personal distress to hard working men and women and their families, are not welcome here and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

“You Coscodaru and Florin, were here only days before committing this very serious offence, you Iliahca had been here for some months.

“I regard with scepticism the idea you came here to work honestly.”

The court heard Coscodaru and Florin arrived in the UK from Romania only days before targeting the premises in Wilcox Close in the evening of February 5 last year.

Wearing balaclavas and hats the gang smashed a hole through a metal fence, and then the side of the premises.

And while gathering £1,500 worth of scrap copper the alarm went off, triggering a police manhunt.

A helicopter traced them attempting to get rid of the stolen items as they went, with two of the gang making an escape.

All three, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to burglary in March.

Judge Lowe continued: "You should pay compensation to your victims of these crimes but it is not realistic for you to do so."