Two men who carried out keyless car thefts around Kent have been jailed for a total of five years.

Seven Mercedes and a BMW were stolen from outside their owners' home in Folkestone, Maidstone, Tonbridge and Gravesend in Kent, and Welwyn, Hertfordshire and Hockley, in Essex between March 24 and April 15 this year.

Work by detectives from Kent Crime Squad linked two other vehicles to the thefts and one was spotted and stopped on a slip-road off the M25 in Essex on the evening of April 19.

Nikas Biliakevicius was arrested and Andrius Petrauskas, was later linked to the thefts and arrested in Eltham, south-east London the following morning.

Petrauskas, 44, of Pinnell Road, Eltham, and Biliakevicius, 26, of Estcourt Street, Hull, were later charged with conspiring to steal motor vehicles.

Both men later admitted that charge and, at Canterbury Crown Court on 31 October, Petrauskas was jailed for three years and two months and Biliakevicius was given a one-year, 10-month sentence.

PC Michael Eeles, Kent Police's investigating officer, said: “These two men were clearly organised and committed vehicle thieves, stealing eight vehicles in just weeks.

“I am pleased our investigation saw them quickly arrested and they have now been jailed, protecting other vehicle owners in Kent and elsewhere from further offences.”