TWO men who raided the same Brighouse jewellers twice in a week have been jailed.

Leeds duo Kiiam Kirby, 22, and Sam Hall, 22, admitted they were part of a sledgehammer wielding gang that attacked five jewellery stores and two banks.

The gang, some of whom have not been traced, stole £831,000 of jewellery from premises in West Yorkshire.

The owner of S Neimantas Jewellers in Commercial Street, Brighouse, was threatened at gunpoint by two men wearing balaclavas as they smashed their way through his store grabbing expensive rings and watches.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Mr Steven Neimantas was first targeted at 9.30am on August 12 while serving a customer.

Two men, one with a sledgehammer, began smashing his shop window and taking his stock. The court heard witnesses who tried to intervene were threatened.

Mr Neimantas, who had been targeted before, picked up a baseball bat and began to hit the hand of one robber through the broken glass while also trying to hook his valuable stock away.

Another man then entered the shop and threatened him before the pair fled in a stolen Audi A5 with more than £16,000 worth of jewellery.

A week later on August 19, the raiders returned armed with a gun.

Three men stormed into the premises at 9.05am wearing balaclavas and pointed a hand gun at the 40-year-old.

One shouted, “Get down, get down, we want to see your hands,” before a second broke down another door to swipe more than £116,000 worth of jewellery.

Katherine Robinson, prosecuting, said one of the men said “Sorry about this” as the gang fled.

Mrs Robinson said a ballbearing gun had been seized by police and the firearm used in the robbery may well have been an imitation but she said the fear factor would still have been the same.

Speaking after the sentencing, Mr Neimantas, said he still thought about the terrifying attacks every day.

He said: “A lad came in holding a hand gun, I can’t remember exactly but he kept telling us to put our hands in the air, then said ‘don’t move and no one will get hurt’.

“It all happens so fast but after you have time to think about it more. You think why didn’t I do that but it all happens in just a few seconds.”

The two Brighouse raids were the third and fourth armed robberies by the gang between July and September last year.

They began at Santander bank in Longeaton, Derbyshire on July 18 but failed to steal anything.

On August 2 they hit S Manning Jewellers in Otley, leaving with eight Rolex watches and diamond jewellery worth £56,000.

Following the two Brighouse raids another sledgehammer attack at Santander Bank in Otley saw them escape with £22,000 in cash. Then on September 2 at Caines Jewellers in Wetherby they threatened to shoot the proprietor and escaped with more than £21,000 of jewellery.

During their last raid at a jewellers in Ilkley, the pair made off with a haul worth more than £600,000.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Kirby was caught after police found he was one of only nine people in West Yorkshire to own a particular type of hooded top. They traced it to the Morley branch of Asda and identified him purchasing it using CCTV.

Judge Her Honour Sally Cahill QC said there was evidence they had both been involved in reconnaissance missions to prepare for the raids.

Judge Cahill said she accepted Hall was merely the getaway driver but said Kirby was “fully involved”.

Kirby was given 12 years custody for the offences and Hall was sentenced to 10 years for his part in the robberies and two years for a burglary.

None of the missing jewellery had been recovered.