A pair of burglars caught acting suspiciously outside a large house in a village near Marlborough have been jailed for six months.

The sentences must be served after Paddy Cronin, 24, has done three years and Thomas Small, 27, three-and-a-half for other house raids.

Kirsty Real, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how a builder working at the pub in Ham, near Marlborough, raised the alarm on December 6.

She said he saw a Subaru with blacked out windows pull up outside the property and two masked men in dark clothing get out.

The house was occupied at the time and the men went back to the vehicle, but the builder alerted the police.

About an hour later officers spotted the vehicle and following a short chase the men were detained.

The court heard both were wearing hoodies and in the car officers found snoods, to cover their faces, as well as bolt croppers, gloves, a torch and crow bar.

When Small was searched he was found to have a lock knife in his pocket, but Miss Real said it was never produced during the incident.

Cronin, of Hook, Hampshire, and Small, of Aldermaston, Berks, each pleaded guilty to going equipped to burgle but not guilty to attempted burglary.

A third man, Jesse Carey, 26, of Barnstaple, Devon, denied both counts and the charges against him were dropped.

Small and Cronin were both jailed at Reading Crown Court last month after admitting conspiracy to burgle in Berkshire.

Christopher Blake, for Cronin, said his current earliest release date was July next year and has two young children, one of whom has been born since his arrest.

He said that there was nothing sinister in the clothing his client was wearing, as he was working as a landscape gardener at the time.

Laurence Henderson, for Small, said he was not due out until October 2019 and had the knife as he was a farm labourer and wearing his work clothes.

Jailing them Judge Robert Pawson said "You were what might be described as 'well at it'.

"I am told that in March 2017 you were involved in a conspiracy to burgle. You were arrested in relation to that matter. You were bailed at some point in March 2017.

"It is accepted on your behalf that when you were out and about in a Subaru Legacy with any number of tools to affect burglary and theft you were both on bail and you both have poor criminal records."