A CONVICTED robber who was part of a gang that stole expensive plasma televisions from a shop has been jailed for two years.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Perry Hunt, 21, and others drove from South London to Cranbrook in a stolen car on the night of April 14 last year.

They went to Bangham’s electrical shop in the High Street, smashed a window and stole three plasma screens worth a total of £5,000. Only one was recovered, but it had £1,000 worth of damage.

Hunt got out of the car in Linton Road, Loose, and resisted arrest. He got his "just desserts", said a judge, when a snarling police dog stopped him in his tracks.

The married father-of-two, of Martin Bowes Road, Eltham, admitted burglary on Tuesday, the day he was due to stand trial, having previously denied the charge.

Martin McDonald, defending, said Hunt was savaged by the dog and treated "robustly" by the arresting officers. They then rushed him to hospital.

Mr McDonald said Hunt was drunk at the time of the raid. "He didn’t know what was going to happen, but accepts his part in it," he said. "It seemed like a good idea at the time.

"He didn’t appreciate the seriousness of the crime. He saw it as a victimless crime, a commercial crime. He would never have intended to put anyone out of business as a result.

"He thought he would sell the goods and make some money out of it. Like many young couples, they have money troubles."

Mr McDonald said Hunt had particles of a ball bearing in his skull from an incident when he was 18. The person responsible was jailed for two-and-a-half years. "He is in danger of getting meningitis at any time," he said.

Hunt had not actually entered the shop, he added. It would be his first prison sentence.

Judge Jeremy Carey told Hunt that he had gone with the other criminals knowing what the purpose was.

"You had a choice as to whether you remained with that group of criminals or whether you did not," he said. "You made your choice and must now take the consequences."

They must have caused great alarm, he said, to witnesses, some of who called the police and would have given evidence against him.

"I treat as an aggravating feature the fact that you resisted arrest and you got your just desserts when the dog did its job effectively and caused you to stop," said the judge.

He added that Hunt was facing facing a longer prison sentence when he appears at Blackfriars Crown Court on November 3 for armed robbery.