ARMED robbers threatened to 'slice up' staff at a mobile phone shop before making off with stock worth £35,000.

Yesterday two of the gang were sentenced to a total of almost 12 years in prison.

Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester heard that staff and customers at Carphone Warehouse in Prestwich were left shaken and scared by the ordeal.

Andrew Mackintosh, prosecuting, told how Jack Thompson, Kyle Meighan and a third robber burst into the Bury New Road store at 4.20pm on April 3.

Thompson was wielding a machete and Meighan was armed with a sledgehammer.

Inside the store were three members of staff and two terrified young women customers, who ended up crying throughout the robbery, which lasted several minutes.

The gang eventually made off with 65 smart phones after demanding staff open the safe.

Mr Mackintosh told the court how the staff had been threatened with the weapons with one of the attackers shouting: “Go to the safe or I’ll slice you up.”

To another frightened worker, one shouted: “Get your hands up and don’t try anything.”

In a victim impact statement rad out in court one worker said: “I was shocked and shaken, I was numb.

“This is going to be in the back of my mind for quite some time.

“I have never been through anything like this before.”

When staff said they did not have access to the safe, the robbers decided to take some of the stock instead.

Thompson, Meighan and the third man then stole 32 iPhones and 33 Samsung smartphones, running out of the store to a back street where an estate car, which had been parked hours earlier, waited for them.

More men in motorcycle helmets were seen on CCTV to be waiting for them. They all escaped, some on mopeds and some in the car.

Thompson and Meighan were caught after finding their fingerprints on the car and to the mobile phone packages left inside the vehicle.

Thompson, aged 22, from Kersal Hall Avenue, Salford, and Meighan, aged 24, from Chancel Avenue, Salford, both pleaded guilty to robbery at an earlier hearing and Thompson also admitted stealing a motorcycle.

Defending Meighan, Martin Pizzey said despite there being evidence that the attack was planned, it was nonetheless an amateur operation, motivated by short-term financial gain.

He said: "The details of this crime are not going to be appearing in a feature film any time soon."

Judge Maurice Greene sentenced Meighan to five years and four months in jail and Thompson to six years and four months behind bars.

The judge stressed: "They knew what they were doing and what they were going for. It was professional, with planning and had high commercial value.”

Speaking directly to the defendants, he added: “You stormed into the shop where there were two young customers who were terrified by what they saw.

“You threatened workers with the weapons and threatened to slice them up, before stealing £35,000 worth of mobile phones.”

Judge Greene said the planning involved and disguising themselves with motorcycle helmets were significant aggravating factors.

“Also, it took quite a few minutes, it was not all over in a short space of time and witnesses have talked about being shocked, overwhelmed and nervous,” he said.

He added that, although nobody was physically harmed in the attack, it had caused great distress for the staff and customers.