TWO young Rowley Regis thugs in a four strong gang who carried a frightening armed raid on a Conservative club have been put behind bars for nearly 11 years.

During the attack on the Brandhall Conservative Club, Ashes Road, a man had a knife pressed against his neck while a woman was told her face would be smashed in with a hammer.

Judge John Warner told Gavin Stephens and Kalem Dunnaway : “It was a terrifying incident and you hoped to get away with a large sum of money, mercifully nobody was actually injured.”

A woman staff member saw her partner and his teenage son being confronted by a man in a hooded top and quickly three other men then followed him armed with a hammer and knives.

A large knife was then held to the neck of one of the man inside the club but his partner Michelle Kelly saw what was happening and she was able to activate a secret alarm, said Mr Oliver Woolhouse prosecuting.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court that 20-year-old Stephens then threatened to “smash faces in” with hammer while ordering staff to open a safe in the cellar and the gang were handed £2,250.

The robbers had the money bagged up ready to leave when police officers arrived and they were able to corner Stephens and 18 year old Dunnaway in the clubhouse where they were both subdued with the use of CS gas.

All the stolen money was recovered, added Mr Woolhouse, but the two other gang members managed to escape from the scene and they had not been traced.

Stephens of Hackett Road who had previous convictions for offences including robbery, and assault admitted robbery and he was sent to a Young Offenders Institution for six years three months.

Dunnaway of Mount Road also admitted robbery and he was sent into detention by the judge for four and a half years.

Mr Anthony Bell defending Dunnaway said: “It is unusual for a young man’s first appearance in court to be of such a serious nature. They were all there for the money but he was not carrying a weapon and his involvement was peripheral."