Three men who took part in a series of terrifying street robberies in the centre of Bolton have been jailed for a total of more than eight years.

Bolton Crown Court heard Mesaadi Saaed, Baha Kadum and Mustafa Aldulaimi targeted people over a month-long period where they would force their victims into darkened areas, make threats and steal items including phones, bank cards and money.

The court heard the robberies were organised by ringleader Munther Alothman. The 19-year-old has already been jailed for five years for the role he played in the crimes.

Saaed, 20, Kadum, 26 and Aldulaimi, 22, first took part when they all joined in with the robbery of a student.

The victim was approached by Alothman on Folds Road, near the junction with Turton Street, and was pushed into a dark side-street.

The men attacked him and took a phone and a debit card and one demanded his pin number before he was given two minutes to run away.

Before he could freeze his bank card £300 had been taken from a cashpoint.

Aldulaimi and Saaed took part in the robbery of another school boy in Newport Street 10 days later, the court heard.

As a 15-year-old headed to the train station he was taken down an alleyway, punched and one attacker said he had a knife and would “kill him” and leave him bleeding. They took £7 from him.

On the same occasion Abdulaimi targeted a 14-year-old and stole an iPhone worth £1,000.

Abdulaimi and Saeed targeted Kelan McGuinness the following month when he was coming back from a night out in the town centre.

As he walked along Bradshawgate he was attacked and had a phone and car keys stolen.

Kadum admitted a single charge of robbery, Saeed admitted three robberies and Aldulaimi admitted four.

The trio appeared in court to be sentenced for the crimes which took place in February and March, 2020.

Joshua Bowker, defending Aldulaimi, said he had been kicked out of his family home before he became involved in the crimes and had shown remorse for what he had done.

Rebecca Caulfield, defending Saeed, told an earlier hearing her client had come to the UK from Italy in 2019 and fell in with the gang for protection.

She added that Saeed plans to return to Italy once he has served his sentence for the robberies, and another dangerous driving offence which he is also in prison for.

Robin Kitching, defending Kadum, said that he had only been involved in one of the robberies, which he only became aware of shortly before it happened.

Passing sentence, Judge Tom Gilbart said: “These were deeply unpleasant crimes, as the sentencing guidelines make clear the courts must always view cases of street robbery seriously.”

He jailed Kadum, of no fixed abode, for 20 months, Saaed, of Slater Street in Bolton for 33 months and Aldulaimi, of Pleasant Terrace in Dukinfield, for 43 months.