Four men jailed for armed robbery in Kirkcaldy flat

An armed gang who staged a terrifying gunpoint raid after forcing their way into a flat have been jailed for a total of 21 years.

The balaclava clad intruders carried a handgun, a crowbar and a machete as they burst into the property.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the two victims believed they were going to be shot after the gun was pointed at their heads and another robber threatened he was going to cut their fingers off.

James Mackie (30), Gordon Ellis (24), Derek Finlay (31) and Scott Smith (23) made off with a haul of £2500 and other valuables following the robbery at the flat in Viceroy Street, Kirkcaldy, in Fife, in January 2015.

A judge told the robbers: "You have pled guilty to an extremely serious offence. In a premeditated and carefully planned enterprise, with a chosen victim, you armed yourself with weapons some potentially lethal."

Michael O'Grady QC said: "The idea that anyone should suffer such terror in their own home is utterly beyond the pale."

The judge told Mackie and Finlay, who both have lengthy criminal records, that is was clear that they played the major role in the offence and jailed each of them for six and a half years.

He sentenced Ellis and Smith to four years imprisonment each and said: "It is clear your roles in the attack were lesser ones."