A GANG who targeted a Stretford bookmaker with a sawn-off shotgun as part of a four week crime spree have been jailed.

Romahn Richards, 23, of Oundle Close, Manchester and Jake Prempeh, 25, of no fixed abode were involved in the robbery at Coral Bookmakers, Great Stone Road, Stretford on June 12.

During the incident, the gun was pointed in the face of a staff member who was told he would be shot if he didn’t cooperate.

The robbery was part of a spree that also took in bookmakers, fast food outlets, newsagents and shops in Withington, Irlam, Eccles, Moston, Chorlton, Oxford Road and Derbyshire.

Two other men, Kayode Freeman, 22, of no fixed abode and Omar Berryman, 26 of Hardy Lane, Manchester pleaded guilty alongside Richards and Prempeh to varying degrees of involvement in the robberies.

Detective Constable Jennifer Wylde, from Greater Manchester Police's Serious Crime Division, said: "Each of these four men played their part in terrifying robberies that left a number of the victims traumatised.

“So much so that many of them have either been unable to return to their place of work or it has cast such a shadow over their lives that it still causes them distress to this day.

"That is the effect criminals can have on innocent members of the public, particularly when a dangerous organised crime group with access to sawn-off shotguns are prepared to point them in people's faces just to intimidate them.”

Members of the gang were caught after committing an aggravated burglary in Northamptonshire on June 18.

The gang had followed a couple home after they had been to a local casino and forced their way inside, locking the couple in a toilet while they ransacked the house.

After fleeing in a black Nissan Almera, police in Northampton pursued them through the city centre and eventually stopped the car, with Richards, Prempeh, Freeman and a bag containing a single-barrelled sawn-off shotgun inside.

On Tuesday, July 21, they were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court.

Berryman pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery and two counts of having a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence and was sentenced to six years and four months in prison.

Prempeh pleaded guilty to 11 counts of robbery, eight counts of having a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence, one count of possession of a firearm and one count of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and was sentenced to 15 years and seven months in prison.

Richards pleaded guilty to eight counts of robbery, six counts of having a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence and one count of dangerous driving and was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison.

Freeman pleaded guilty to five counts of robbery, three counts of having a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence and was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison.