A thief who threatened a company director with a hammer when caught stealing scrap metal from a recycling centre has been jailed for two years.

Calum Osbourne fetched the weapon from a van when he and an accomplice were confronted by sales director Jamie Houston at Countrystyle Recycling in Lenham.

“What started as a theft turned into a robbery,” a judge told Osbourne when he appeared for sentence on Friday. “The value of the scrap was around £250.”

Maidstone Crown Court heard Osbourne and the other man went to the Ashford Road site in the early afternoon of May 31 this year and started loading metal into the rear of the van.

“Mr Houston, who was present at the time, was not prepared to let you and your compatriot get away with it,” said Judge Philip Statman.

“He sought to prevent you from doing what you were up to. There was a fracas. You went back to the van which contained a hammer. You picked it up, returned to where he was standing and threatened him with it.”

The two thieves fled. When officers went to arrest Osbourne on June 4, he obstructed them and ran off. When caught, he gave false details.

The 27-year-old, of Southend Crescent, Eltham, admitted robbery and obstruction.

Judge Statman told Osbourne, who has a number of previous convictions including attempted robbery and theft: “It is right to observe you have scant respect for those in authority, such as police officers.”

A suspended sentence imposed in 2011 included a requirement for alcohol treatment and aggression therapy.

The judge said of the robbery: “You produced a hammer to threaten violence. There was significant planning. You didn’t just turn up at the premises on the spur of the moment."