A burglar who stole deep fat fryers from chicken shops has been jailed for almost two years.

Morden man Mark Allaway, 41, was caught in Wallington with three chicken fryers worth more than £30,000 stolen from takeaways in Kingston and Morden.

The Garth Road man took one of the fryers from Mackays Fried Chicken in Bishopsford Road, Morden, on March 22 last year and the others were taken from Chic-O-Land in St James' Road, Kingston, on April 22.

Allaway was caught after police officers who recognised him from CCTV taken during the burglary at Chic-O-Land spotted him sittiing at a table in a café. The officers went back to their car and lay in wait for Allaway.

As he left they followed him to his van, parked nearby, and then stopped him after he drove away. They checked inside the vehicle and found the fryers.

Allaway pleaded guilty to burglary and was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday.