A TRIO of armed robbers who raided a jewellers in Rawtenstall have been jailed for more than 60 years.

Lee Tansey, 40, from Salford, Anthony Gough, 37, from Liverpool and Christopher Reuben, 32, from Ashton-in-Makerfield received a total of 63 years at Minshull Crown Court after targeting banks and jewellers across the North of England.

They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of firearms at a previous hearing.

Greater Manchester Police officers carried out an investigation into several high-value armed robberies across the North between July 2016 and January 2017.

Code-named Operation Tandem, the three men were pinned to six robberies in Blackburn, Rochdale and Rawtenstall.

Two men from the group raided a jewellers in Rawtenstall in July 2016.

At about 9.30am two staff members were confronted by two men donning balaclavas and brandishing a sawn off shotgun and a handgun.

They threatened them before jumping into a Chrysler used as a get-away-car and driven by a third man. Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of jewellery was taken.

The car was later abandoned burned out.

In a later incident, two armed men threatened G4S security guards with a sledgehammer and crowbar during an attempted robbery at the Three Arches Service Station in Blackburn at around 7.30am in October 2016.

The security officers locked themselves in a gap between the ATM machine at the station with the cash they were guarding and raised the alarm when confronted by the would-be robbers.

Following extensive undercover surveillance work, phone and vehicle analysis, they were foiled and arrested in January 2017 whilst carrying out final preparations for a robbery in New Mills Derbyshire.

Officers raided their homes and a lock-up where they discovered crucial evidence including holdalls and clothing used during the robberies, the sawn off shotgun, handgun and ammunition.

The three men have each been sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Detective Sergeant Rick Castley, from Greater Manchester Police, said: “Tansey, Gough and Reuben were clearly fuelled by greed and as they became more and more arrogant in the fact they were never going to be caught, we were building a strong evidential case against them.

“I welcome the sentences handed down today."