An organised crime gang who plotted multi-million pounds heists at Scottish museums have been jailed.

Fourteen members of the criminal gang at the heart of a £57m conspiracy to "plunder" British museums of rhino horn and other priceless artefacts have been jailed for up to six years and eight months.

The group, dubbed the Rathkeale Rovers because of their links to the Irish town, targeted high-value objects in a string of break-ins, including Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum and Durham's Oriental Museum in 2012.

The group also planned raids at Glasgow's Burrell Collection as well as the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in the city's west end.

Judge Murray Creed heard that although the items stolen in Durham and Cambridge were valued up to £18m, detectives believe they might have fetched more than three times that figure on the booming Chinese auction market.

The judge continued: "The conspiracy spanned England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, references were made to France - the Cherbourg visit, Hong Kong and also the United States and Germany, also featured in the evidence the court heard over the three trials." The judge said the plot was "an extremely sophisticated conspiracy".

The men travelled to Glasgow in March 2013 to carry out a "recce" of both the Burrell and Kelvingrove, which contain collections of rare china, artworks and other artefacts from the Far East.

The Burrell's Chinese exhibits are said to be of "outstanding significance", and make up the biggest single group of objects in its 9000-piece collection.

Police uncovered the gang's visit as they trawled through phone and vehicle records as part of their exhaustive investigation into the gang's activities.

It was made to size up the most valuable piece and lay the groundwork for a later raid to be carried out by other members.

Detective superintendent Adrian Green, who led the investigation, said: "The visit would have been a recce to find out what was contained in the Glasgow museums, but would only have been the start of the chain.

"After this these men, who were the ringleaders, would have paid another group to carry out the thefts, who would have reccied the museums themselves."

Judge Creed said: "It is a conspiracy both sophisticated, skilled and persistent, and involved significant cultural loss to the UK of museum quality artefacts and items from international collections."

The judge began by jailing Richard "Kerry" O'Brien Jr, 31, living in Cambridgeshire but from of Rathkeale in the Irish Republic, for five-and-a-half years.

His uncle, John "Cash" O'Brien, 68, of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands was jailed for five years and three months.

Also in the dock was Daniel "Turkey" O'Brien, 45, and Daniel Flynn, also 45, from Cambridgeshire, who were jailed for six years and eight months and four years, respectively.

The judge said he had found Flynn to have played "a leading role", but reduced the man's sentence based on "the fragility of his mental health".

Alongside the men in the dock was 56-year-old Donald Wong, from Lambeth, London, described by the judge as "a buyer, seller and valuer". He was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Paul Pammen, 49, of Southend-on-Sea and 37-year-old Alan Clarke, from London, were also both jailed for five-and-a-half years each.