A GANG of men who carried out a series of terrifying armed robberies in Grayshott, Liphook and Petersfield have been jailed for a total of 19 years.

Philip Fried and Stuart Hopkins held up a string of small stores armed with axes, crowbars and fake guns - threatening teenage staff.

Robert Cornelius assisted the pair on one of the robberies, checking the shop first and keeping an eye out for police.

Winchester Crown Court heard that the men deliberately targeted stores which they knew were being staffed by young and vulnerable teenagers.

Fried and Hopkins, both 23, carried out three robberies together - the first being a raid on the Alldays Store in Liphook on February 3.

David Reid, prosecuting, said: "The pair rushed into the shop and demanded cash and cigarettes from the two teenagers behind the till.

Hopkins held a crowbar against the neck of a 14-year -old boy, while Fried grabbed the 18-year-old man and pointed an 18-inch screwdriver at his throat.

They ordered the terrified staff to load up a bag and made off with £67 worth of cigarettes and £99 in cash.

Less than a month later, the pair carried out another robbery - this time at the Wine Rack in Grayshott.

They burst into the store with one of them covering his face with a bandana. Fried carried a hatchet and Hopkins held a crowbar.

After threatening the young man behind the counter, the pair escaped with £528 cash, cigarettes worth £70 and a video player. Mr Reid said Hopkins carried out the next robbery only three days later with another, unknown man.

He said: "Hopkins and another man broke into the Co-Op Store in Petersfield, carrying axes and wearing bandanas over their faces. They ordered a girl behind the counter to load up a bag with £1,500 in cash and fled.

One of them threatened a 13- year-old boy in the store and this teenager was so physically shaken that he was unable to make a statement to police until much later.

The last robbery involved all three defendants. The gang targeted a One-Stop shop in Grayshott.

While 18-year-old Cornelius kept watch, Fried and Hopkins held up the store with a very realistic imitation gun.

Fried held the fake gun to a young man's head and told him he would blow his brains out if he didn't hurry up and load a bag with money.

The trio fled the store with £1,000 cash and cigarettes and stamps worth £796. The two shop assistants were extremely shaken.

Fried, who has committed 191 previous offences, pleaded Continued from Page 1 guilty to three robberies and possessing an imitation hand gun - which he claimed was from a Play Station games console.

The court heard that he committed the crimes after becoming addicted to crack cocaine after his ex-girlfriend refused to let him see his young daughter.

Sentencing him to eight years in prison, Judge Jeremy Bulford said: "I accept that in the course of these robberies no one was injured, but the young shop assistants were plainly terrified by your appalling actions."

Hopkins pleaded guilty to three robberies and asked for another three robberies and one theft to be taken into account.

Winchester Crown Court heard Hopkins was an alcoholic, who believed he had been "groomed for crime".

Judge Bulford sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment after hearing he had provided evidence against Cornelius in a trial. A jury found Cornelius guilty of one charge of robbery.

Judge Bulford sentenced him to three years in a Young Offenders' Institution.

Fried and Hopkins had only just been released from prison when they committed the crimes, and Cornelius is of no fixed address.