FOUR men behind a 'fake' robbery at an East Lancashire post office - where they pretended to brandish a gun and tied up the temporary postmaster before fleeing with £185,000 - are starting prison sentences totalling 126 months.

Mohammed Faiyza Iqbal, 33, claimed he had been overcome by two men, dressed in white CSI-style boiler suits, and subdued with chloroform, as part of the 'raid' on Rishton Post Office, Burnley Crown Court heard.

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But a "sophisticated and elaborate" plot to escape with bags of cash, postal orders and stamps from the High Street branch started to unravel after one of the robbers, Jason Yarwood, left a glove behind in a nearby yard, the court was told.

Prosecutors say police were already suspicious after Iqbal, while being treated at hospital, had refused to let officers examine his mobile phone, to verify timings concerning the robbery.

Yarwood made a series of confessions when arrested and questioned about the June 2015 incident, implicating his brother Terry, 36, and Iqbal, the court heard. Detectives also detained their alleged getaway driver, Avaiz Samad, 23.

Mobile phone contact between Terry Yarwood, and Iqbal and Samad, was frequent in the time leading up to the robbery, the court was told, and Iqbal had been conducting internet searches on where to obtain chloroform.

The post worker had also ordered in an extra £95,000, for the ATM machine, which had been left out for the 'intruders' in pouches, the court heard.

Jailing the four, Judge Beverley Lunt said: "The police must be commended for their thorough and 'textbook' investigation in this case, as it must have taken a long time to analyse all of the mobile phone, number plate and CCTV evidence in this case."

Terry Yarwood and Iqbal from the Ashton-on-Ribble area of Preston, were each jailed for 28 months after admitting to conspiracy to steal. Jason Yarwood, also of Ashton, who went on the run for one month, was jailed for 34 months.

Samad, also of Ashton, who denied taking part in the conspiracy, was convicted after a trial and jailed for three years.

Brian McKenna, prosecuting, said the conspirators undertook a dry run before the staged robbery, using a spray can to disable a security camera behind the post office on May 22.

Shortly before the robbery, the camera had been put of action when someone placed tape over the lens.

On the day of the robbery Iqbal's sister Samina, who ran the post office, had been attending a pre-arranged hospital appointment. She had been injured in a genuine robbery at the branch the previous November.

Iqbal is thought to have travelled to Preston to pick up the Yarwood brothers, who then waited in his Vauxhall Corsa, in a garage behind the post office, until the pre-ordained time to carry out the theft, he told the court.

"This would explain why no members of the public saw two men, in white CSI suits, entering the post office from the street," said Mr McKenna.

The court heard the Yarwoods took the Corsa to nearby Eachill Road, where Samad was waiting for them in his Volkswagen Passat. He claimed he was picking the brothers up after they had been carrying out building work in the area.

David Farley, for Iqbal, said his client had become involved in the fake robbery as he was experiencing serious financial problems. 

Richard Lees, for Terry Yarwood, said the defendant had not committed any further offences since his involvement in the conspiracy.

Robert Elias, for Jason Yarwood, said his client was only 'at large' for a month before he was rearrested, and had made substantial admissions in the case.

Ricky Holland, for Samad, said the evidence showed the 23-year-old had not been involved in planning the staged robbery from the outset.

Speaking after the case, Det Insp Simon Upton, senior investigating officer, said: "The sentences are the culmination of a long and complex investigation into what at first appeared to be a genuine armed robbery at the post office.

"While our enquiries soon established that the 'robbery' was in fact planned by Mohammed Iqbal, who worked at the post office, and his associates Jason and Terry Yarwood and Avaiz Samad, it must have been extremely frightening and unsettling for the local community at the time to hear reports of an armed robbery in their local area.

"I hope that this result brings the community some peace of mind now that those involved have been jailed. Although we disproved that it was a genuine armed robbery we still took the matter very seriously and left no stone unturned until those responsible were brought to justice."