Two machete-wielding thugs have been jailed for 14 years after going on a six-month crime spree.

Patrick Roach, aged 26, of Stout Street, and Philip Turner, aged 28 of Chadwick Street, both Leigh, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary between September, 2007, and January this year.

Roach was jailed for six-and-a-half years at Chester Crown Court. Turner was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years.

The two men were often armed during the robberies, mostly with machetes, although no one was seriously injured.

Roach and Turner would steal cars from the homes they burgled and then use the stolen vehicle for a commercial robbery soon after. The stolen car would then be abandoned.

Cash and cigarettes were stolen in most cases from the commercial premises.

Roach drove a works van that had a Global Positioning System installed which plotted the movements of the van.

In January, 2008, his boss examined the system after being contacted by a building site manager enquiring why the van had been at his site late one evening.

He noticed a number of irregularities with the personal mileage Roach had been doing and Roach was suspended following a disciplinary hearing.

The van was retrieved and gloves, balaclavas and metal bars were recovered prompting the company to call the police.

Subsequent analysis of the GPS from the van showed that it was present near the locations of a number of burglaries and robberies across Wigan and Merseyside, as well as the homes of Roach and Turner.

Turner was also identified as a result of CCTV recovered from some of the commercial robberies.

Roach and Turner were produced from prison, where they were already serving a sentence for burglary, and later charged.

Detective Sergeant Jason Eddison from Wigan CID said: "Roach and Turner went on a spree of crime, terrorising the community and were arrogant enough to believe they were not going to be caught.

"They used weapons to threaten innocent members of the public who were left extremely shaken by the ordeal.

"I hope these sentences show the public that although it may seem like action is not taken immediately sometimes, we work hard to ensure evidence is gathered and used to put offenders like Roach and Turner behind bars, and make the community feel safer.

"These offenders clearly had no regard for safety of the people they threatened and stole from, or the long-term effect it would have on them.

"I hope that knowing they remain behind bars provides some sort of comfort to the victims."