Gang caught in CCTV chase jailed

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CCTV footage shows the robbers being caught as they tried to flee

A gang of armed robbers have been jailed for stealing Rolex watches worth £30,000 in a jewellery shop raid.

Malachi Jones, 19, Corey Fregis, 19, and Kiley Nightingale, 22, were caught on CCTV fleeing Fraser Hart in Maidstone, Kent, on 13 February.

The trio, all from south-east London, carried out the raid in daylight.

Fregis was jailed for seven years and three months, Jones for five years, and Nightingale for three years and nine months at Maidstone Crown Court.

The court heard how CCTV captured two members of the gang as they approached Maidstone town centre wearing white painting suits and masks and brandishing sledgehammers.

'Frozen in terror'

The pair were seen initially looking at the window display of Beaverbrooks, before turning towards Fraser Hart in Fremlin Walk and repeatedly smashing the glass until it broke.

Prosecutor Trevor Wright said footage showed "people frozen in terror" and rushing to collect their children as the men carried out the raid.

He said the sledgehammers were held "in such a threatening manner that any member of the public would have been forgiven for thinking any move forward would result in a brutal and savage attack".

The robbers used a sledgehammer in the raid

Thirteen watches were stolen, but four were dropped as the men fled towards a waiting van, with Nightingale behind the wheel.

Following a dramatic chase caught on camera, they were trapped at traffic lights and caught by police who were told of their whereabouts by CCTV operators.

Jones and Nightingale were arrested in the van, while Fregis escaped and attempted to tear off his disguise before being stopped.

Unemployed father-of-one Jones, of Glengarry Road, East Dulwich; Fregis, of Maxted Road, Peckham; and Nightingale of Perry Vale, Forest Hill; all pleaded guilty to the Fraser Hart burglary at an earlier court hearing.

Each man was handed a term of three years and nine months for the store raid, with Jones and Fregis receiving additional sentences for further offences.

Fregis was also sentenced for his involvement in two similar burglaries in January - Brufords in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and KT Ruff, in Windsor, Berkshire, where jewellery worth £210,000 and £90,000 was stolen, and one count of attempted theft at Parkhouse and Wyatt jewellers in Southampton in February.

Jones was also sentenced for one count of attempted burglary at Parkhouse and Wyatt.