A man who carried out two burglaries in Shorne in October has been sentenced to over four years in prison.

Anthony McCoy, 47, of Valetta Way in Rochester, pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary after initially claiming he was being framed.

The first offence occurred in the late afternoon of October 31 in Court Lodge.

McCoy broke into the house via a first-floor window and stole jewellery and ornaments.

The second took place a short time later in Burdett Avenue.

Again, McCoy broke into the house via a first-floor window and stole jewellery.

Burglary investigators from Kent Police launched an investigation and recovered DNA from both addresses. 

McCoy was sentenced to four years and six months in prison at Maidstone Crown Court.

Detective Constable Mark Donovan from Kent Police said: "Burglary is a really invasive crime, which has a long term effect on victims of crime.

"Victims often lose items of great sentimental value, which cannot be replaced.

"It is for these reasons that we remain completely committed to targeting burglars and securing the return of any property that we can locate.

"Kent Police website has a section called 'is it yours', where we have pictures of property that we have seized but haven’t been able to identify the owner.

"We would encourage victims of theft or burglary to look at this page and see if any of the property we have recovered is theirs so we can arrange its return."