A man who hid from police in a Sittingbourne pub toilet after striking a deaf friend and stealing cash and a phone from him has been jailed.

Bradley Dew had travelled with the victim and the victim’s girlfriend to Faversham on March 29 last year and they went for a drink in a town centre pub. He asked to borrow the victim’s mobile phone and then asked again if he could take it with him as he planned to go to Herne Bay.

When Dew, 26, of Love Lane, Faversham, arrived back at the victim’s address later that evening, he told him he had lost the phone on the train.

The victim then decided to go and get some food with his girlfriend but as he went to leave, Dew pushed him back into a wall and struck him across the face.

Dew then reached into the frightened man's pocket and took £10 cash.

Police were called and found Dew in a pub in Sittingbourne High Street.

During interview, he denied the offence, claiming it would have been ‘like robbing my brother’.

But he was convicted by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court and sentenced to 18 months for robbery and six months for assault, making 24 months in total.

Investigating officer, DC Kathryn Lumsden-Earle, said: "Dew took advantage of a so-called friend’s generosity, taking his phone and then never returning it.

"Time behind bars just might give him that opportunity to reflect on what he did that day, but more so the impact it had on someone he knew was vulnerable and who viewed him as a friend."