Four men have been remanded in custody after being charged with conspiracy to commit burglaries and conspiracy to steal luxury motor vehicles.

The four men - Danny Stevenson, 26, of no fixed address, Charlie Bushell, 20 of Kingston Crescent, Chatham, James Clark, 20, of Luton Road, Luton, and Adam Green, 24, previously of Hardstown, Chatham – appeared before court on Wednesday morning.

They are charged with committing 48 offences, including stealing BMWs, Audis and Mercedes models from residential addresses across the towns between September 2011 and January 2012

They appeared before district judge Michael Kelly in Medway Magistrates Court after being arrested during early morning raids by detectives investigating burglaries and thefts of luxury vehicles in the Towns.

Officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate executed warrants at several addresses in Medway as part of a three month investigation into the alleged crimes.

DI Eddie Fox, from the directorate, said: "A lot of the offences we have investigated took place while people were asleep in their own homes in the middle of the night which caused a great deal of distress to the victims and their families."

The four were refused bail and are due to appear at Maidstone Crown Court on May 28.

The defendants did not enter a plea.