RAIDERS wielding lump hammers who targeted pubs in Bromsgrove and Droitwich as part of a spree across the country have been jailed for a total of 17 years.

The burglars stole £30,000 in fruit machine takings during a two-month burglary spree which began with a raid on the Copcut Elm in Droitwich on January 22 this year, one of more than 30 raids across the country.

The raiders forced open a side door and bagged £1,000 in coins. Just 15 minutes later they repeated the trick at The Golden Lion in Charford, Bromsgrove.

At the time assistant manager Tom Chance and his partner Stephanie Cole were staying above the Copcut and heard alarms going off, banging and shouting.

Miss Cole called the police but the raid was also picked up on the Starbox security system which Mr Chance described as a 'spy unit'.

Mr Chance, aged 24, said: "It was quite scary. I'm pleased to see them go down. It's justice. You can't get away with it nowadays. The police got here straight away and got all the forensics in.

"My partner was quite frightened to be fair, as you would be. She phoned the police. She was quite worried until the police came."

He said of the burglars: "There's got to be something wrong in their personal lives."

Noel Lacey and Adam Power broke into 32 licensed premises from London to Staffordshire, including 10 in the West Midlands, before smashing open games machines with a lump hammer and plundering their contents.

On January 26 they made off with £2,000 from fruit machines at the Unicorn in Alspath Lane, Coventry, and went on to attack pubs in Halesowen, Birmingham and Sandwell.

Lacey, aged 40, and 38-year-old Power cast their net wider as they targeted venues in Hereford, Banbury and Cannock in a bid to avoid capture.

But they were eventually caught when they pulled into the car park of Essex pub Man in the Moon in Harrow in the early hours of April 1, where West Midlands Police were waiting.

Driver Lacey who along with Power used three different hire vehicles as getaway cars – tried ramming past a blockade of unmarked police vehicles. But the duo, along with accomplice Wayne Hawkins, were dragged from the BMW and arrested.

Lacey, from Sibdon Grove in West Heath, and Power from Crychan Close in Hawksley, went on to admit conspiracy to burgle and one count of robbery at the Royal Hop Pole pub in Tewkesbury where they threatened staff.

They were jailed for seven-and-a-half and six-and-a-half years, respectively, while 28-year-old Hawkins, from Hollybank Road in Billesley, admitted taking part in the last four raids and was jailed for three years at Tuesday's hearing at Birmingham Crown Court.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Darren Brown, said: “All the break-ins were in the early hours of the morning.

"There was nothing sophisticated about their tactics.

"There was certainly a degree of planning: we seized CCTV from pubs in the days leading up to attacks that showed them casing up the venue, seeing what machines they had, and the best entry points. And they were always in and out within two minutes.

“Fearing we were on to them they started offending outside the West Midlands area – but we already had them in our sights and an operation followed them to Essex."

"During several of the jobs they disturbed licensees sleeping upstairs and on one occasion attacked two staff members they encountered. They have rightly been handed significant jail sentences.”

The BMW hire car was found to be running on false plates, while two holdalls containing a large quantity of pound coins and two lump hammers were found in the boot.

A later search of Power’s home address also uncovered a stash of fruit machine takings.