A prolific criminal and his getaway driver who sprayed three post office workers in the face with ammonia have each been jailed for 12 years.

Daniel Burtak, 35, was driven from Bolton by accomplice Colin Naylor, 51, in disguise with a beard and scarf to a post office on Abbey Street in Accrington on May 10, 2019, before demanding £15,000 in cash from the tellers.

While taking the cash from the safe and tills, Burtak sprayed ammonia from a washing-up bottle in the faces of three defenceless workers, leaving them to require hospital treatment, with one worker who had 16 years of service saying she was unable to return to the post office after the attack.

Lancashire Telegraph: (L) Daniel Burtak and (R) Colin Naylor(L) Daniel Burtak and (R) Colin Naylor

After taking the cash Burtak used a bicycle to make his way back to Naylor, who was parked up near a pub.

A number of days later the men returned to commit another robbery at the Post Office on Blackburn Road, also in Accrington, but Burtak changed his mind, instead throwing another bottle of ammonia at the van of a post office worker.

Lancashire Telegraph: The scene at the Post Office in AccringtonThe scene at the Post Office in Accrington

Sentencing the pair who were found guilty by a jury, Judge Sara Dodd said the robbery and attempted robbery were both ‘professionally planned’ but ‘not sophisticated’.

Judge Dodd handed Burtak a 12-year sentence, with an extended licence for three years, telling him that he had no consideration for the seriousness of harm committed in his prolific offending.

Lancashire Telegraph: The scene at the Abbey Road Post OfficeThe scene at the Abbey Road Post Office

She said: “You are 35 years of age, you have been before the courts many times during your life.

“You are a man who has lied to the courts and court in Carlisle.

“You have an entrenched criminal lifestyle.

“There appears to be no consideration by you to serious harm of those who get in your way.”

Lancashire Telegraph: Burtak on the bike with a Fairy Liquid bottle filled with ammoniaBurtak on the bike with a Fairy Liquid bottle filled with ammonia

Burtak, of Settle Street, Little Lever, Bolton, is already serving a sentence for the robbery of a jewellery store in Carlisle. This sentence will run consecutively.

Getaway driver Naylor, of Raikes Way, Darcy Lever, Bolton, was jailed for 12 years.

Judge Dodd said to him: “You must have seen the disguise and the bottle containing ammonia.

“I am told you were paid £1,000 for the first robbery.

“You were fearful of admitting your offending for fear of being named a grass.”