Two men who burgled a flat above a funeral directors while the tenants were watching TV have each been jailed for two years eight months.

Ryan Simmonds and Amy Harding had been in the living room at their home in Watling Street, Chatham, on June 6.

Miss Harding passed the bedroom and noticed the blind had been pulled back. She then saw muddy footprints on the window sill.

Prosecutor Donna East told Maidstone Crown Court Miss Harding saw that the contents of her handbag had been emptied onto the bed.

Her purse, containing £30, bank cards and other property, was missing.

Miss East said it emerged access had been gained to the flat by a flat roof from an alleyway and climbing through the bedroom window.

The burglars, Ryan Christie, 34, and James Hynd, 28, were caught on CCTV cameras covering the area.

Hynd also admitted breaking into a flat at Chinese restaurant Confucius in Chatham High Street on May 15 and stealing about £15.

The female occupant was confronted by Hynd as she went down the stairs. Holding a crowbar, he grabbed her and shoved her out of the way.

She saw that the lock was hanging off her door. She ran after Hynd, shouting “Thief” in mandarin.

Others detained him until the police arrived.

Christie, of Victoria Street, Rochester, and Hynd, of Meadow Bank Road, Chatham, admitted burglary.

Hynd was described by Judge Charles Macdonald QC as “a three-striker”, having committed three burglaries, and facing a minimum three-year prison sentence.

John Fitzgerald, for Hynd, said his client wanted to go to prison because it was the best environment to tackle his drug problem.

He had been transferred to a prison which had an intensive drugs rehabilitation course and with the help of methadone he was no longer taking heroin.

The judge said both burglaries only yielded a small amount of cash.

Christie was on licence at the time, having only been released from jail a few days earlier.