Four men from London have been charged with robbery and remanded in custody following a raid at a Kent bookmakers.

In the incident, at Corals in Newington Road, Ramsgate, last Thursday staff and customers were told to lie on the ground by offenders who made off with nearly £500 from the till and £5 from the wallet of a staff member. Property and money has since been recovered and no-one was hurt.

Arrests were made shortly afterwards in marshland near Monkton following a pursuit on foot by police officers and dog handlers.

Supt Chris Hogben said that a vehicle involved in the incident was tracked via the automatic number plate recognition system in Thanet, a camera which scans all vehicles travelling past it and cross refers the details with nationally-stored information.

He said: "The police and Thanet council have invested heavily in this equipment and these events clearly demonstrate its worth.

"Very quickly, we get an idea of a vehicle's movements and are provided with quality, immediate intelligence. From beginning to end, this has been a very good piece of police work by my officers."

The four men charged with robbery at Dover magistrates court on Saturday are Michael Hermitt, 20, of Antigua Walk, Upper Norwood; Stewart Robinson, 20, of no fixed address; Dwayne Lock, 18, of Wychwood Way, Upper Norwood; and Jonathan Tetteh, of Crown Dale in Upper Norwood.