A 24-year-old woman wept bitterly while her part as a getaway driver in a jewellery raid was described in court.

Tanya Page, from East Malling, is starting a two-year prison sentence after a jury decided she provided the transport for a gang who broke into a house and took £400 of jewellery.

Homeowner Primrose Stanford, from Molash, returned to find her property being raided by a gang of thieves with a woman as the getaway driver.

The burglars escaped in a waiting car – taking £400 worth of jewellery with them.

“When your victim returned home she found you sitting in your car in her driveway. She later discovered the back door had been smashed, causing £600 worth of damage" - Judge Williams

Ms Stanford managed to get part of getaway vehicle’s registration number – which later led to the arrest of Page.

Now - although the rest of the gang have never been traced – a jury at Canterbury Crown Court decided she was the getaway driver for the attack in April last year.

Page, of Rosemary Road, East Malling, wept bitterly after being jailed for two years for the burglary. She had denied the offence.

Police had been alerted by Mrs Stanton and were then able to trace Page's vehicle's route using computer cameras which read car registration numbers.

Judge Adele Williams told her she had been part of a gang which had targeted the home of the 71-year-old victim because “it was detached and isolated”.

She added: “You were convicted on clear and compelling evidence that you took part in this serious burglary.

“You were the driver of a car you had hired two weeks' previously. You took the others to the scene of this break-in and it was you who was seen by your 71 year old victim.”

Ms Stanford had revealed in her Victim Impact Statement that she had been subjected to previous break-ins at the house which had been her home for 45 years.

Judge Williams said: “This house was, in my opinion, deliberately targeted because it was detached and isolated.

“When your victim returned home she found you sitting in your car in her driveway. She later discovered the back door had been smashed, causing £600 worth of damage.

“There had also been an untidy search of the house and jewellery valued at £400 had been taken.

“You were, in my opinion, a member of a gang which carried out this attack.”