TWO teenagers who left a couple "scared to death" after robbing them in their home have each been jailed for more than two years.

And Recorder Kevin Talbot, sentencing Noel Devers and Mark Pedder, slammed their actions, saying it must have been the "most horrifying, terrifying and frightening experience" for their victims.

Burnley Crown Court was told that the day before the robbery a hooded gunman had appeared in Richard Swindlehurst and Elizabeth Bromley's back yard in Pritchard Street, Burnley, and threatened to shoot him. The couple had also suffered with other damage to their home and verbal abuse.

Devers, 19, of Herbert Street, Burnley, befriended the pair after the incidents and offered his help.

The court was told he did this so he could be allowed into the couple's home.

Francis McEntee, prosecuting, told the court both Mr Swindlehurst and his partner were considerably traumatised by the gun incident.

At about 10.30pm on the day after, Devers, who had been "very kind" to the victim and his partner in proceeding weeks, turned up.

He looked nervous and edgy and then launched himself across the room towards Mr Swindlehurst who was on the couch and hit him in the eye, knocking him back onto the settee, the court heard.

Devers demanded: "Where's your money that I saw you with the other day?"

The defendant then picked up a glass vase, raised it above his head in a threatening manner and Mr Swindlehurst admitted there was cash upstairs.

Pedder,18, of Cogg Lane, Burnley, followed him up, holding the victim by the scruff of the neck but telling him he was sorry and it had not been his idea, the court was told.

Mr McEntee said Devers was making sure phone wires were pulled out so police could not be called and repeated: "If you call the police I will kill you" to both the victim and his partner.

The robbers left the house with £350 cash.

The court heard Mr Swindlehurst and Ms Bromley were left shaking, crying and scared to death.

Devers and Pedder admitted robbery following the incident on July 8.

Devers, who has a criminal record, was sent to detention for two years eight months while his co-defendant, who had never been in trouble before, got two years.

Sentencing, Recorder Talbot told the pair: "It must have been the most horrifying, terrifying and frightening experience for Richard Swindlehurst and his partner and I make it clear from the outset the courts simply cannot tolerate this type of criminal behaviour."

The judge, who said the prosecution "did not seek to assert specifically" that either defendant was involved in the gun incident, added the couple would probably suffer continuing anxiety and feel a lack of safety and security in their home.

The couple appear to have moved from the area as their home is now up for rent.

Dennis Watson, for Devers, who had been in custody 128 days, said the defendant felt remorse and shame and had no previous convictions for violence.

He added: "He wishes to apologise for the huge distress he caused. What he has done cannot be undone."

For Pedder, Martin Hackett said the offence was wholly out of character. He should have distanced himself and was genuinely sorry for the anguish and pain he had caused, the solicitor added.