The men, one from Leamington and two from the Rugby area, pleaded guilty at Coventry Crown Court to robbing staff at the Coral bookmakers in The Green, Bilton, Rugby.

Christopher Carver, Luke Smith and Carl Adams also admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence during the raid on the bookies on New Year's Eve.

And following the preparation of pre-sentence reports on them, all three were given indeterminate prison sentences for the protection of the public.

Judge James Ross ordered that, based on four-year minimum terms for each of them before they can be considered for parole, Smith, 22, of Vicarage Hill, Clifton-on-Dunsmore, should serve at least three years and nine months, allowing for the time he has already spent in custody.

But Carver and Adams were both on licence from earlier sentences at the time, and will also have to serve the remaining periods of those terms.

So Judge Ross said that Carver, 30, who is from Leamington but of no fixed address, will have to serve a minimum of four years and three months, and Adams, 25, of Skiddaw, Brownsover, Rugby, a minimum of four years and 21 days.

The charges followed an armed raid at the bookmakers, the third in a total of six separate robberies at Corals branches in Rugby, at just after 4pm on December 31.

Prosecutor John Butterfield said Carver and Smith, both wearing balaclavas, with one brandishing a sawn-off shotgun and the other wielding a knife, went into the bookies and demanded money.

One of them hit a male member of staff in the face before they escaped with just £515 cash and made their get-away in a waiting red Ford Mondeo.

The get-away car, driven by Adams, was abandoned in Dunchurch shortly afterwards.

The bookies was among five of Coral's six shops in Rugby which had been hit during a series of six raids carried out between December and May.