TWO armed robbers who were caught when police stormed an Armidale pizza shop have been jailed for up to four years.
Joseph Cutmore and Christopher Andrews appeared at a sentencing hearing in Armidale District Court last week after each pleading guilty to two counts of robbery armed with an offensive weapon.
Judge Stephen Hanley imposed a head sentence of three years and six months on Christopher Andrews for his part in the armed hold-up at Domino's Pizza in Armidale in October, last year.
Andrews was given a minimum of 18 months behind bars, meaning he will be eligible for parole in April, 2017.
Cutmore, who only pleaded guilty to the charges in May, was jailed for a maximum of four years, with a minimum of two years and four months in custody and will be eligible for parole in June, 2018.
The pair were part of a gang of four arrested inside the store during a police sting.
On October 8, the investigators were conducting undercover surveillance of the Girraween shopping complex after a spate of robberies, when they saw a 17-year-old, along with three other men acting suspiciously just after 11.30pm.
The group ran into the shop armed with a concrete block, pieces of timber and a knife, before police captured them.
The 17-year-old was sentenced to two years in juvenile detention while Robert Gordon remains in custody, after pleading guilty to two robbery charges.
The court had previously been told pre-sentence reports were not ready for some of the men.
Judge Hanley questioned how a background report was going to assist in sentencing.
“They're going to jail,” said.
Gordon will be sentenced in a Sydney court next month.
