A crook who smashed his way into a restaurant in the early hours of the morning before helping himself to bottles of wine, has been jailed.

Mark Taylor, 51, of no fixed address, had attempted to smash the front window of the restaurant in Rochester High Street on November 28.

After kicking it and throwing an object at it, he finally made a gap big enough to crawl through. Once inside the venue, he stole two bottles of wine worth £60 before fleeing.

However, police looked at CCTV of the area and arrested Taylor two days later. He was then charged with burglary.

He pleaded guilty in front of magistrates in Folkestone has has been jailed for 14 months. His punishment includes breaching two suspended sentences.

PC Peter Hambleton said: “Taylor is a prolific criminal who thought nothing of burgling a local restaurant while on two suspended sentences.

“The cost of repairing the window was more than £400 - an expense the owners should not have had to face. This brazen act could only have one conclusion; the suspect was swiftly identified by neighbourhood officers and will not be a threat to law-abiding businesses for several months.”