TWO men have been jailed for robbing a McDonald’s restaurant at gunpoint.

Sean Andrew Jarvis, 25, of Hollin Bridge Street, Black-burn was jailed for six-and-a-half years, and 19-year-old Andrew Eric McDermott, of Crossroads Refuge, Accrin-gton, was sent to prison for four years and eight months.

In October, the men burst into the Livesey Brand Road outlet with what appeared to be a hand gun and dem-anded money from staff.

One of the robbers then headbutted the supervisor and forced him to open a safe, before they made off with £1,800.

The robbers fled on foot, but dropped £400 worth of coins and notes in the car park.

Two members of staff were in the restaurant at the time, but it was empty of customers.

The men were arrested in a dramatic raid by armed police just days later.

Officers wearing bullet- proof vests swooped on Hollin Bridge Street, and the men were led from a house with their hands up, while neighbours watched from behind barricades.

The men were jointly charged with robbing Kenneth Cheng of £1,410, and possessing a firearm, a Tanfoglio Witness 1911 gas-powered BB gun, with intent to cause Mr Cheng to believe unlawful violence would be used against him.

Speaking after the sentencing, at Preston Crown Court, Detective Sergeant Nicola Mason said: “I am pleased with the sentences handed down to Jarvis and McDermott reflecting the severity of this frightening ordeal which involved a weapon, believed by the victim to be a hand-gun, being pointed at him when he was only trying to do his job.

“I hope that this now brings him some closure and sends out a warning that this type of criminality will not be tolerated in Lancashire .”