Two men charged over burglary near Robertsbridge, north of Hastings

Police were called at around 2.20pm on Tuesday (January 18) by a member of the public who had apparently spotted some suspicious behaviour at a property in Sheepstreet Lane, Etchingham, near Robertsbridge.

A blue Vauxhall Astra was seen leaving the scene, and at around 6.20pm the evening the same vehicle hit Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in Kent, a spokesperson for Sussex Police said.

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Officers from Kent Police stopped the car on the M25 and recovered a quantity of jewellery from inside, it is claimed. The jewellery was said to have matched that reported stolen during the Etchingham burglary, and a second burglary that had taken place at a property in Eridge Road, Groombridge, near Tunbridge Wells, at around 4.30pm that day.

The two occupants of the car were arrested and returned to Sussex for interview.

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James Dunnett, 29, an engineer, from Franklin Road, London, was later charged with two counts of burglary and possessing a knife blade/sharp pointed article in a public place.

Justin Collins, 44, unemployed, of no fixed address, was also charged with two counts of burglary, criminal damage, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance. Both men were remanded in custody to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court.