A burglary trio who targeted a Ramsey pub and flat were caught red-handed with a safe still in their get-away vehicle.

Craig Shearer, Louis Evans and Ryan Doorland broke into The Angel pub on High Street, Ramsey, just before 3am on December 19 after smashing through the front door.

They forced a fruit machine open, emptied the tills and stole a safe from an upstairs flat where the landlord lived.

Police were called at 2.57am by the landlord who told them he could hear people downstairs in the pub.

The landlord hid behind his bedroom door but could hear people moving around and suspected they were targeting the safe.

CCTV footage captured the offenders breaking into the pub and leaving at 3.05am. A heavy item was loaded into the back of white car and the three men left and drove towards Bury.

A white Vauxhall Zafira was spotted by officers on the A141 at 3.12am and failed to stop. The pursuit led the officers onto Clay Lane, where the car was driven onto farmland but was blocked from leaving by a metal gate at the other side.

The driver of the Zafira, later identified as Shearer, tried to flee on foot but was stopped by the BCH Dog Unit.

Officers found the stolen safe from the pub in the back of the car, and three men were arrested. Crowbars and gloves were also found inside and matched those used and worn in the CCTV footage.

In police interview Shearer, 42, of Bannister Close, Greenford, Middlesex, and Doorland, 42, of no known address, both answered ‘no comment’ to all questions asked of them.

Evans, 39, of Vincents Path, Northolt, Greater London, admitted breaking into the pub using a crowbar and carrying out the burglary, but said he didn’t remember events in detail as he had taken drugs and drank alcohol.

All three men were charged with two counts of burglary and admitted the charges at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on December 20.

The trio were sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on January 27 where they were all handed two years behind bars.

DC Neil Gibbs, who investigated, said: “Shearer, Evans and Doorland brazenly carried out this burglary and clearly thought they had got away with it when they escaped in the Zafira.

"However, justice caught up with them less than 10 minutes later and they were linked to the crime through CCTV, their clothing and items in the vehicle.