�Two robbers who used a machete and a fake sawn-off shotgun to terrorise their victims in a two-month crime spree have been jailed for nine years.

Devante Cazley, 18 and Parvez Hussein, 22, were part of a gang blamed for 15 near identical robberies between December and February.

Two hooded and masked muggers wielding the 2ft blade and imitation gun targeted men strolling home after dark in Highbury, Finsbury Park and Stoke Newington.

Sentencing them at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, Judge John Hillen said: “You and the criminal gang of which you were a part of committed robbery after robbery. It was a plan followed like a script. The same method, the same words, the same weapons and the same disguises.”

The thieves made threats to “blast” and “slash” their victims, stealing phones, iPods, watches, wallets and even bags of Christmas presents, the court heard.

Dehumanising

They demanded PIN numbers and warned victims they would go to their homes if false ones were given – taking driving licences to get their addresses. Some were even threatened with being dragged into a van and driven to a cash machine.

One victim said: “It was a humiliating and dehumanising experience. I was treated like a piece of meat.

“They could take everything I had and not even treat me like a human being. They came across as having a lot of experience in doing exactly that.”

Cazley, of Gloucester Drive, Finsbury Park, who has five previous convictions for robbery and attempted robbery and Hussein, of Colthurst Crescent, Finsbury Park, who has a conviction for wounding, admitted taking part in 10 of the incidents between them, including thefts in Highbury Hill and Petherton Road in Highbury and Queen’s Drive and Oxford Road in Finsbury Park.

The court heard violence was used only in the final incident on February 2, when a man was punched in the face.

Judge Hillen added: “The people of London deserve and sadly need protection from people like you.”

The men were snared after repeatedly using stolen cards at the same cash machine in Stamford Hill. Officers arrested them at the ATM on February 2 and found the machete, imitation shotgun, disguises and stolen property in the car.

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named, was also sentenced to a 24-month detention and training order for his involvement in one of the muggings.

All pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. Defence lawyers said all three felt “genuinely remorseful” for their actions.