THREE professional shoplifters who stole mobile phones wholesale have been jailed for more than six years between them.

The trio armed themselves with balaclavas, gloves and wire cutters before travelling to York and targeting the EE store in Monks Cross on June 1 where they stole mobile phones worth a total of nearly £9,000, York Crown Court heard.

All three were on bail from a similar criminal trip to Skipton on May 18 where they reconnoitred a mobile shop, left the area and returned.

David Grigoras and Neculae Spirache threatened and distracted staff while Leonard Mutanu stole two mobile phones, said Recorder Jo Kidd.

She described each trip as "sophisticated, pre-planned and professional" crime.

She heard they used different cars for each.

Mutanu, whom she called the "ringleader" was jailed for 30 months. He was on a community order passed on April 18 for an identical shoplifting offence.

Grigoras and Spirache, whom she described as the "muscle" of the gang, were each jailed for two years.

The gang howled and cried in the dock and several of their many relatives wailed loudly in the public gallery as each was jailed.

On hearing the outcry as she passed the first of the three sentences, the judge ordered security staff into the public gallery for the rest of the hearing.

Mutanu, 19, of Lambton Street, Harehills, Leeds, Neculae Spirache, 21, of Wellhouse Crescent, Gledhow, Leeds, and Grigoras, 18, of Savile Drive, Chapeltown, Leeds, pleaded guilty to two charges of theft each.

They followed the hearing with the assistance of a Romanian translator.

For Mantau, Graham Parkin asked for his sentence to be suspended because he had been remanded in custody since his arrest after the York offence.

But the judge said he had blatantly ignored the community order passed in April by not going to any of the sessions it included.

For Grigoras, Mr Parkin said he was the breadwinner for his widowed mother and younger siblings and worked hard on two low pay gig delivery jobs.

For Spirache, Neal Kutte said he was remorseful and had difficulty working because he spoke very little English.