Updated: TWO balaclava wearing raiders are today behind bars and awaiting sentence after they staged a £6,000-plus midnight raid on a York department store at the weekend.

Jordan Thomas Both, 23, leapt into the River Foss to try and evade police when he and two accomplices were spotted at Fenwicks in the Coppergate shopping centre, early on Sunday.

But when he climbed out on to the riverbank behind York Crown Court he was arrested. Fellow raider Anthony Vipas, 28, had been arrested shortly before.

Both, of Greenwood Grove, Bellhouse Way, Foxwood, and Vipas, of no fixed address, both pleaded guilty to burglary when they appeared before York magistrates yesterday, 36 hours after their arrest. They had intended to steal toiletries and clothes worth £6,242.

Magistrates decided their cases were so serious they should be sentenced by a judge, and sent them to the crown court for sentence in custody. They will appear at York Crown Court on April 18. A third man arrested at the scene remains in police custody.

Police were called after a member of the public spotted the raiders at 12.20am on Sunday.

Katy Vowles, prosecuting, told York magistrates they caused £800 damage by smashing a window to get into the closed building. Inside, they started gathering toiletries and clothes together.

But police arrived before they were ready to leave and as they tried to flee, they were caught.

Both’s solicitor Andrew Craven applied for bail for him, saying that it was an “unsophisticated” burglary and the only shop item taken out of the store, a perfume box, was recovered by police.

“It was a one-off opportunistic effort which he now bitterly regrets,” said the solicitor.

He wanted to be with his girlfriend and her children and she had pledged to make sure he observed a curfew and did not get into trouble.

While in police custody he had missed a child’s birthday.

But magistrates said he had a lengthy criminal record, including breaches of bails and court orders and remanded him in prison.

Vipas did not apply for bail.

Jason Hawkins, landlord of The Three Tuns in Coppergate, said: “We saw a lot of police activity early on Sunday.

“They were rolling up and down Coppergate and Piccadilly, and also saw a fire engine, but we did not know what it was about.”