Two men have been found guilty of plundering a British warship which sank more than 100 years ago.

HMS Hermes went down in the Straits of Dover in 1914 after being struck by a German torpedo.

Now a jury at Canterbury Crown Court has convicted John Blight, owner of a boat called De Bounty, and diver Nigel Ingram of being involved in the commercial exploitation of the wreck.

Ingram, 57, from London Road, Teynham and Blight, 56, from Winchelsea, each denied four fraud charges.

Ingram also denied a fifth charge of possessing £16,000 in criminal property but was found guilty of all the charges.

He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Blight was found guilty of two offences and acquitted of two others.

He was sentenced to three and a half years.

Prosecutor Ian Hope had told the jury that people finding items from sunken ships had a lawful duty to report them to the Receiver of Wrecks.

The French authorities had caught the two men in Blight’s boat De Bounty in the vicinity of the wreck of HMS Hermes.

He told the jury how the Maritime and Coastguard Agency spoke with Ingram who was given a warning about not declaring salvage to the Receiver of Wrecks.

Ingram later completed an official form in regard to three port holes from fishing vessels and china.

"Their failure to declare the metal in order to sell it on for profit not only meant that they were guilty of fraud but also resulted in irreparable damage to sites of historical importance..." - Richard Link, Crown Prosecution Service

But in 2015 the French authorities had boarded Blight’s ship, which had stopped near the wreck of HMS Hermes.

Later there was a search of Ingram’s home when about 100 items were discovered, including ships’ bells, a torpedo hatch, china and metal ingots.

Officials also found a note book, entitled De Bounty Diver Recovery which included items sold and their estimated prices from the sale of metal to APM Metals in Sittingbourne.

Records showed Ingram had made 35t visits to the scrap metal yard between May 2012 and December 2015.

Officers also exhumed Ingram’s computer revealed photos of Ingram posing with large items of wreck.

And in his safe officers found £16,000 in cash, which was some of the money received from selling the metal.

In October 2015, both men were arrested when Ingram allegedly told officers: “It has nothing to do with me... it’s my boss, John”.

Richard Link, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Nigel Ingram and John Blight worked together to retrieve metal from a sunken war ship on the sea bed in order to enrich themselves.

“Both men knew of their legal obligations to declare wreck recovered from the sea bed.

"Their failure to declare the metal in order to sell it on for profit not only meant that they were guilty of fraud but also resulted in irreparable damage to sites of historical importance.

“Both men denied their guilt, but the CPS presented evidence to the jury which demonstrated how they carried out the fraud, including a dive log and recovered metal.”