A PAIR of thugs have been jailed after shopkeepers were held by the throat in an armed raid on a jewellery store.

Mustafa Ali, 25, was told he will serve at least 16 years in prison after the attack at Franses Jewellers in Bournemouth in January last year. He will be on licence for a further five years.

Michael Adiat, 22, will serve a minimum of 12 years followed by three years on licence.

Judge Brian Forster QC called the pair "ruthless" as he put them away.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard the pair entered the store in Westover Road at around 4.30pm on January 31, having phoned in advance requesting to look at expensive watches.

They were taken into a back room where shop assistant Ben-Simon Charles showed them watches worth as much as £50,000, later joined by owner Jeff Franses.

But after a few minutes Adiat took out an imitation handgun and threatened the pair. He snatched the two so tightly by the throat that they were left struggling to breathe, with a gun pointed at their heads. Meanwhile Ali began smashing the reinforced glass of nearby cabinets with a lump hammer.

After the attack the raiders attempted to flee by car, but by chance eagle-eyed passer-by Ellis Spiers noted the number plate and reported it to police.

Dorset Police locked down the railway preventing the raiders escaping from Pokesdown, and they were soon picked up by armed officers on the Wessex Way.

Franses was the fourth jewellery store struck by Ali over a month-long spree, all following a similar pattern. The court heard he had pistol-whipped a shop assistant at Baker Brothers Diamonds in Bedford on December 28, 2016, causing her to have a heart attack through the shock and pain, and dealing a lasting blow to her health and confidence.

A 19-year-old shop assistant was threatened with a gun by Ali at Nightingale Jewellers in Olney, near Milton Keynes, though she and a colleague bravely refused to hand over jewellery.

Ali and Joshua Jordan-Rose, 20, of Grosvenor Road, London, threatened an assistant with a gun at Luxe Watches in Buckhurst Hill, near Chelmsford, on January 10 last year, before smashing the shop up with hammers. Jordan-Rose has already been jailed for 12 years.

Ali’s thefts amounted to more than £350,000 worth of jewellery.

Ali, of Sandringham Road, Wood Green, London, admitted four counts of robbery and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Adiat, of Mandeville Street, Lower Clapton, London, admitted one count of robbery and possession of a firearm, plus a further count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after an incident in which he repeatedly struck a prison officer over the head at HMP Winchester.

In mitigation for Ali, who called the judge a “****” as he was led down to the cells, Robert Grey said: “He is 25 years old now. He will be a different person when he is released simply because he will be older.”

He said Ali felt “empathy” for his victims, and feared not being able to raise his seven month old son while inside.

“He will feel the absence of his son more and more as time goes on as he is sent photographs showing him growing older.”

For Adiat, Nicholas Robinson said his client had come under the malign influence of gangs while growing up in Wood Green, London.

“He has been somewhat desensitised to right and wrong, but he still knows which is which,” he said.

“He still has potential.

"He is violent. He is dangerous. He is angry with himself because he is throwing his life potential away."

Judge Forster praised Dorset Police for the speedy capture of the pair after the raid in Westover Road. He also said he would recommend Mr Spiers to the High Sheriff for an award.