AN ELTHAM man was part of a gang of burglars jailed for a total 30 years after smashing into a woman’s house at night and holding her at gunpoint while they looted £200,000 of property.
Jack Menzies, aged 22, was one of three masked men who used sledgehammers to burst into an Edenbridge house, where a woman and her daughter were sleeping, before entering her bedroom wielding a sword, sledgehammer and ball-bearing handgun.
The 53-year-old was taken from her bed at gunpoint and made to lie in a landing while the thieves raided jewellery, watches and other items from her safe and bedroom on March 19.
Menzies, of Parkview Road, Eltham, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on December 23 to seven and a half years for robbery and possession of a firearm with intent to commit a robbery.
He had previously admitted robbery but denied the second charge and was found guilty by a jury on November 22.
Three other men were jailed for their part in the attack including ringleader David Milner, aged 34, of Tonbridge, who befriended the housekeeper and gained knowledge of the layout of the house.
CCTV shows the gang visiting the house in Four Elms three times before the raid which took under three minutes.
They were spotted fleeing at speed in a getaway car by a Kent Police patrol car which pursued them and caught one of the burglars, Zac Price, after they abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.
Menzies was arrested after a member of his family brought him to a Kent Police Station while Milner went on the run for nearly 20 days but handed himself in following a media appeal.
Reacting to the sentence, Detective Constable Don Share, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: “We were confident these four men were facing many years behind bars and that is exactly what has happened.
“It is difficult to imagine the fear the mother and her daughter felt during this crime and that has been reflected within the sentence.
“Anyone who possesses a firearm should expect to go to prison for a long time; even more so should they commit a violent robbery such as this.
“Now the case is concluded it is time for the victims to move on in their lives, safe in the knowledge these men are in prison for many years to come.”
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