A grieving widow whose husband's ashes were stolen during a £100,000 parcel depot burglary says she is "shocked and horrified" one of the accomplices has avoided jail.

Chris Humbles, who lived in Higham with his wife Diane for 24 years before retiring to Yorkshire eight years ago, died unexpectedly in October after developing septicaemia.

A judge heard how, among the 2,000 items which disappeared from the Maidstone industrial estate the following month, were the ashes of the 75-year-old.

His family had arranged for the transfer of his ashes to Charing Crematorium near Ashford, so they could be scattered in the same place as other relatives, when they were stolen.

Now Daniel Bird, 39, has admitted taking part in one of the break-ins which occurred overnight on November 25 last year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard it had not been possible to identify which of two gangs of thieves swiped which goods.

The first break-in at the logistics firm on Phoenix Park industrial estate in Park Wood was said to have been an "inside" job.

Two Transit vans, one a company vehicle, drove away and left the compound unlocked, allowing the second raid to occur just half an hour later.

A lorry and a Ford Mondeo were then caught on CCTV arriving and leaving in convoy, with Bird at the wheel of one of the vehicles.

He claimed that he stayed in his vehicle at all times but knew what his unnamed accomplices were stealing items.The court heard he was paid £300 for his role, and was arrested after police traced him through his mobile phone.

Bird pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle Interlink Express Parcels Ltd between November 11 and 27 last year.

Prosecutor Edmund Body told the court it had been 'challenging' to not only assess the exact value of the goods stolen, as the depot handled parcels for many other companies, but also impossible to identify which burglary was responsible for which items.

But he added: "A relevant and particularly aggravating factor is that one of those parcels contained the ashes of a late individual.

"No doubt for his partner, having his ashes go missing in this way would have caused her serious distress."

Bird, of Rymill Street, Newham, east London, escaped with a two year suspended jail sentence after admitting his part.

Upon learning the verdict, Mrs Humbles told KentOnline: "It's not long enough and it's not good enough. He has given me a lifetime of sorrow and regret and he has got off with it essentially.

"I'm shocked and horrified at the leniency that has been shown to this man when he has done such a dreadful thing.

“I’m trying to remain positive that we will find him but I am losing hope.”

"If he had talked and told us where that lorry went it might have been a bit easier to understand."

Four months after the theft she reissued an appeal for whoever had the ashes to come forward.

She said: “When we want to think about him we’ve got nowhere to go and it’s horrible.

“It’s bad enough to lose your husband so suddenly but to have this happen too is devastating.

“I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him. When he went off in the ambulance I thought I’d be able to visit him the next day but then he was in ICU and he passed away.

“I’m trying to remain positive that we will find him but I am losing hope.”

The couple, who lived near Wakefield, had been married for 41 years and had four children between them, along with eight grand-children and three great-grandchildren.

Monica Stevenson, defending, said Bird had been recruited at a time when he was in financial difficulties from losing his job but was not involved in any planning of the raid.

She added:"He said it was a quick way for him to make money."

The judge, Recorder Cairns Nelson QC said that although there were two separate burglary conspiracies, they were part of 'one venture'.

"It would be an affront to common sense to sentence on the basis that they (the second gang) just happened on the scene of an unlocked logistics company and separate from the first burglary.

" This was one venture that consists of two parts," he told the court.

"It was clearly sophisticated, commercial crime, and planned well in advance."

Bird received a two year sentence suspended for two years and now has to carry out 100 hours' unpaid work and complete 20 rehabilitation activity sessions

He will also be on a six-month curfew from 9pm to 5am.

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