FIVE gang members have been locked up for more than 28 years for their part in burgling homes with the intention of stealing expensive cars in the South East.

The 25 high-performance models taken, including BMWs, Ferraris, Mercedes, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins, had a total value of almost £2million.

One of the cars stolen, a Land Rover Discovery 4x4 was used in a terrifying ram raid on a village sub-post office.

Two female workers cowered inside at Cliffe Woods, near Rochester, as the car smashed into the front windows on May 12 last year.

The ATM cash machine was ripped off the wall and driven away. The Discovery was abandoned and set on fire and a stolen Subaru was used as a getaway car.

Chad Goodall, 25, of Wharton Road, Bromley, was jailed for eight years three months and will first have to serve nine months remaining from a previous sentence.

Adam Watson-Harwood, 20, of Red Lodge Road, Bexley, was sentenced to seven years youth custody.

James Reardon, 24, of Sherden Square, Paddington, West London, was jailed for five-and-half years.

Daniel Burgess, 23, of Mosul Way, Bromley, was jailed for three years 10 months and will first have to serve about 18 months remaining from a previous sentence. He was not involved in the ram raid.

Tony Hart, 19, of Palmer Avenue, Gravesend, was sentenced to four years youth custody.

David Tomlinson, prosecuting, said the post office was closed at lunchtime when Deborah Walker and Tracey Robinson heard banging on the shop window and a gruff voice demand: "Open up.

"Perhaps, not surprisingly, they went to the rear room," he said. "A few minutes later, the Land Rover was reversed into the front windows."

Raiders wearing balaclavas jumped out and made off with the cash machine, which contained £4,800.

The car sped off as the raiders wrestled with the machine in the back. The driver later lost control and crashed. After setting it on fire, the gang escaped along an isolated farm track.

Mr Tomlinson said the homes burgled were mainly secluded, detached and in rural areas. Break-ins were in such areas as Chislehurst, Edenbridge, Halling, Keston and Westerham in Kent and Wallingham, Oxted and Reigate in Surrey.

He said: "The defendants were particularly focused on expensive cars left parked and unattended outside those homes."

The plan, he said, was carried out more than 30 times and a total of 25 cars were stolen.