POLICE put a gang of Kidderminster burglars under surveillance and watched as they targeted commercial premises at night, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Two men were seen on the roof of Stourport Sign Studio and a third was keeping watch in a vehicle.

A computer, printer and power tools valued at £9,500 were stolen but the Kidderminster men were quickly arrested in their van and the property recovered, said Jonathan Gosling, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court.

Judge Andrew Geddes said he regarded Terence Hodgkins and Mark Wilson as professional burglars.

He sentenced Hodgkins, 25, of Rifle Range Road, to 39 months jail and added 111 days of an unexpired prison licence from a previous sentence. Wilson, 32, of Audley Drive, was jailed for three years.

The third defendant Danny Bennett, 20, of Victoria Place, who fell into the wrong company after a parental bust-up, was ordered to carry out 200 hours community work.

All three admitted burglary. Hodgkins was also found guilty by a jury of attempted burglary at Mirrorobes in Frederick Road, Hoo Farm, Kidderminster.

Hodgkins and Wilson further pleaded guilty to criminal damage to phone cables.

Mr Gosling said police in plainclothes put the trio under surveillance on the night of January 28 this year when they drove in Wilson's van to Birchen Coppice trading estate in Kidderminster.

Hodgkins and Wilson lifted up a manhole cover and cut through phone cables, disabling the phone system to a number of industrial units.

But they did not burgle the units, instead driving on to Stourport to the studio.

When one undercover policeman approached the targeted premises, Wilson challenged him, pretending to be a security guard, said Mr Gosling.

Hodgkins had a record of 14 previous burglaries and Wilson had committed 23 previous break-ins.

Bennett had a conviction for taking a motorcycle without consent.

Richard Carron said Hodgkins had been given repeated jail terms and needed help to break his pattern of offending.

He said Wilson ran his own business Premier Pizza at his home. His girlfriend was heavily pregnant.

Martin Jenkins, for Bennett, said he stumbled into the crime after heavy drinking. He was usually industrious and worked for a Kidderminster fencing company.

Judge Geddes said he considered the two older men as the leaders. Society had to be protected from them.