A burglary suspect who was pursued by several members of the public has been jailed.

On the morning of Friday, April 5 2012, a witness saw two men trying to force a rear window of a house in Boxley Road, Maidstone. He confronted them and they ran off.

The witness gave chase, and was joined by a lady who was passing on her bike. She later confronted him and described him as talking with an Eastern European accent. Another witness noted a partial registration number from a car that he considered suspicious.

Three days later, following research on the force’s automatic number plate recognition database, the car was stopped. The driver gave false details, but was identified as 22-year-old Guntis Powlcanovc, of Boxley Road, Maidstone.

Powlcanovc was arrested and later released on bail, but failed to return and he remained at large until Friday, March 15, 2013, when he was arrested in Cambridgeshire and transferred back to Kent.

Sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday, Powlcanovc was sentenced to 12 months in prison for attempted burglary.

Investigating officer DC Andy Julier said: "Members of the public were absolutely key to this investigation. They provided not only a description of Powlcanovc, but also part of a registration plate of a car they saw that they deemed suspicious. It was that information that helped us locate him and ultimately send him to prison. Powlcanovc was wanted for a long time, but this result shows that we will continue to pursue crime suspects, wherever they are in the country, and put them before the court."