A van robber who attacked a man with a bat in a row over a lighter has been jailed for more than eight years.

Mark Read, 36, from Gravesend, hit his victim with a wooden bat causing serious injuries after an altercation in Garlinge, near Margate, in July 2018.

Read had asked the man to borrow a light and then refused to return it, leading to a brief argument. He then left the area and returned with the bat, hitting the victim on the arm and head.

He was later identified from CCTV and arrested. A section of the bat which was recovered contained his DNA.

Read committed further offences shortly before he was charged with the attack.

He provided information to an associate called Danny Darling before Darling stole a digger and a dumper truck from a building site in Nash Road, Margate, on September 7, 2020.

The vehicles were taken to a location in Gravesend but were tracked down by Kent Police and linked to Darling. Following Darling’s arrest, messages on their phones showed he and Read had planned the thefts.

Further investigation also linked Read and Darling to the theft of a camper van from Stourmouth, near Sarre, on September 13, 2020 and the robbery of a delivery van in Hartley, Longfield, the following day.

In the latter offence, the delivery driver was assaulted as he returned to his van. A small Peugeot van was linked to both offences and Read and Darling were seen inside that vehicle and arrested later the same day.

DNA evidence also linked Read to a burglary in Broadstairs the same month and Darling to five other vehicles thefts, all in Hernhill, near Faversham, that month.

At Woolwich Crown Court, Read, 36, formerly of St Patrick's Gardens, Gravesend, was jailed for a total of eight and a half years after being found guilty of robbery and admitted wounding with intent, burglary and conspiracy to steal.

Darling was found guilty of the delivery van robbery following a trial and admitted offences of theft of a motor vehicle and conspiracy to steal.

The 29-year-old, formerly of Ansell Avenue, Chatham, was jailed for four and a half years at the same sentencing hearing as Read.

Detective Constable Keith Rochford said: "Read is a repeat offender who, our investigations have shown, was prepared to use violence to steal vehicles around Kent.

"He also resorted to serious violence in the assault he committed in Garlinge, and the use of a bat in that offence means we are lucky the victim was not even more seriously injured.

"I am pleased that the number of offences Kent Police was able to prove he and his associate Darling had committed has led to them being jailed for considerable terms, preventing them stealing from further victims."