Craig Shearer, Louis Evans and Ryan Doorland broke into The Angel pub on High Street, Ramsey, just before 3am on 19 December by smashing through the front door from the street.
They forced a fruit machine open, emptied the tills and stole a safe from the upstairs flat where the landlord lived.
Police were called at 2.57am by the landlord who told them he could hear people downstairs inside the pub and he also believed people to have entered his flat.
The landlord remained hidden behind his bedroom door but could hear people moving around and suspected they were targeting the safe under the stairs in his flat.
CCTV captured the trio breaking into the pub and leaving with something heavy at 3.05am. The heavy item was loaded into the back of white car and the three men left just two minutes later, driving towards Bury.
A further CCTV camera captured the men’s clothing clearly, which they were all still wearing at the time of their arrest.
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 in his tracks by PD Bane from the BCH Dog Unit and his handler.
Officers then 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 20 December.
The trio were sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on Thursday (27 January) 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.
“Burglary can have a devastating impact on businesses and homeowners, which is why tackling it is a force priority and we will stop at nothing to bring offenders before the courts.”
