A MEMBER of a gang of metal thieves that targeted Thurrock's household waste recycling centre on Buckingham Hill Road near Stanford-le-Hope has been jailed – a sentence planned to keep him nearer the straight and narrow.

Kyle Davies was part of a gang that mounted a number of raids on the tip over two months last year.

Basildon Crown court was told the 18-year-old, formerly of Tate Close, Basildon, was a member of a gang that would jump over the protective fencing of the site and throw metal over or cut their way through the fence to steal.

He was handed a jail spell as the court heard if Davies were given a suspended sentence he would have nowhere to go and could fall into further bad company. Recorder William Clegg QC gave Davies nine months in prison.

The first theft took place on August 9 last year when £130 of metal was stolen. Other raids followed but Davies and three others were caught on CCTV surveying the site and that eventually led to his arrest.

He also admitted stealing two motorbikes from a garage in Langdon Hills on October 14, which were worth £2,700 and £2,500.