Gang members who stole watches worth more than a quarter of a million pounds from a jewellery store in Bluewater have been jailed.

They targeted Bluewater last June - causing more than £60,000 worth of damage - as well as a further 10 locations across the UK in a plot to steal goods more than £3.1 million.

The group drove to the Greenhithe shopping centre in a silver Ford Mondeo and, after parking on the middle level of the Thames Walk car park, set it on fire to create a distraction.

Six men were then seen using sledgehammers to force open the Breitling store's glass shopfront.

They then climbed through the glass, systemically destroyed cabinets and filled bags with watches before fleeing on foot.

No one was found at the time, but a black hooded top spotted on a footpath off Hedgerow Road provided a DNA match for Cosmin Muraru.

He was subsequently arrested and charged by officers from Staffordshire Police on September 21.

Muraru, 25, of Naden Road in Birmingham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle and was sentenced to six years and seven months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court today.

He was also handed an 18-month sentence for conspiracy to commit arson.

A further six members were sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court for conspiring to commit burglaries earlier this month.

Bogdan Costel Neagu, 24 and of no fixed address, was sentenced to eight years two months.

Ioan Bucuresteanu, 24 and of no fixed address, was sentenced to eight years.

Vasile Daniel Cardos, 26 and of Halesowen Street, Rowley Regis, West Midlands, was sentenced to eight years two months.

"The offences these men committed were brazen and well organised in an almost militaristic fashion" - Det Con Mark Froome

Silvu Ioan Acatrinei, 20 and of no fixed address, was sentenced to eight years two months.

Andrei Florin Tifui, 28 and of no fixed address, was sentenced to eight years two months.

Ioachim Karp, 19 and of no fixed address, was sentenced to six years six months for aggravated burglary and conspiracy.

The gang's crimes spanned 11 towns and cities between November 2015 and September 2016.

Locations included Milton Keynes, Oxford, Stoke-on-Trent, Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Bicester, Derby, Stratford-upon-Avon, Peterborough and Blackburn.

Kent Police worked alongside officers from Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Thames Valley, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire, as well the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit and the National Crime Agency, to bring the group to justice.

Detective Constable Mark Froome, an investigating officer, said: "The offences these men committed were brazen and well organised in an almost militaristic fashion.

"This meant that a complex and diligent investigation, involving nine police forces and the Romanian authorities, was needed to secure these convictions.

"It is pleasing that our partnership work has brought about such significant sentences and I hope that this serves as a message to organised criminals that we have the resources and structure in place to target them and bring them to justice."