THREE men who stole £7,000 worth of cigarettes in a ram raid have been jailed for 18 months.

Stephen Grimshaw, Philip Turner and Patrick Roach were arrested on January 24 after officers were alerted to a ram raid at the BP Garage on Warrington Road, Culcheth.

Grimshaw, aged 25, Turner, aged 24, and Roach, aged 26, who are all from Leigh, were charged with burglary and pleaded guilty at their first appearances.

They were each sentenced at Warrington Crown Court on Friday to 18 months in jail.

"This was an excellent example of proactive policing involving officers from the targeted patrol team and officers from Warrington East Neighbourhood Policing Unit," said PC Sam Griffiths, of the Warrington East neighbourhood policing unit investigation team.

"We hope this sends out a strong message that we will not tolerate this sort of crime in the Warrington area and that we will do everything within our powers to act swiftly, as in this case, to bring offenders to justice," he added.