Members of an organised crime gang who stole diggers and trailers worth almost £200,000 have been jailed.

Three men were for a total of nine years and seven months at Maidstone Crown Court for the theft from a Maidstone storage depot in December 2012.

Ashley Austin, from Maidstone, Matthew Butler, from Stockbury, and Nigel Black, from Eastchurch, were all involved in the thefts of 12 diggers and 12 trailers from a compound in Bircholt Road, Park Wood.

Twenty-four-year-old Austin, of Essex Road, Shepway, pleaded guilty to theft and was jailed for two years and seven months.

Butler, 36, of South Street Road, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to steal but was convicted following a trial last month and was jailed for four years at yesterday's hearing.

While 52-year-old Black, of Warden Road, will serve three years in jail after pleading guilty to theft.

A fourth man – Grant Hodgson, 34, also of Warden Road, Eastchurch – has also pleaded guilty to theft and will be sentenced later this month.

The court heard how police were called after staff arrived at the depot on the morning of Monday, December 10, 2012, and discovered that 12 Cat mini-diggers worth about £14,000 each and 12 trailers worth £1,600 each were missing.

The chains locking the front gates had also been cut and four vehicle registration plates stolen.

Two days later electronic trackers installed on the machines led Kent Police to a lorry in Lodge Road, Staplehurst, which contained the diggers.

Black, who was standing next to the vehicle, and Austin, who was lying beneath it, were both arrested at the scene.

Hodgson was also present but fled, jumping off a 10ft-high wall and breaking his back in the process.

Despite his injuries he attempted to escape on a train from Staplehurst railway station but was arrested on board and taken to hospital.

The lorry on which the diggers were found was traced back to Butler – a known associate of his three co-defendants – who purchased the vehicle the month before the theft from a Suffolk dealership, registering it in somebody else’s name.

Investigating officer DC Becky Saunders said: "This was a complex case that took two years to piece together so I am very pleased that those responsible are now behind bars.

"These four men are repeat offenders specialising in vehicle crime so it will come as a relief to law-abiding members of the public that they are now off our streets."

A year before the incident Austin was ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work and Hodgson jailed for 18 months for their part in thetheft of 138 Christmas trees costing almost £7,000.

Police had caught them after following a trail of pine needles to their van.