Two Bucks robbers who threatened taxi drivers with a knife have been locked up for a combined total of more than 10 years.

Ryan Edwards, 23, and Tyrese Abbas, 20, of Buckingham Road in Bletchley, robbed two drivers in two days in October 2019.

In the first attack, a group of men were picked up by a taxi on October 7, 2019, and were taken from Kettering to Bedford. When they arrived, the group grabbed the victim by his neck and stole his earrings and personal documents.

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The following day, the offenders targeted a second cab driver, this time in Flitwick, Bedfordshire, holding him at knifepoint and stealing his earrings.

Fortunately, the victim was able to sound the horn in his taxi and scare off the attackers.

Following an extensive police investigation, Edwards and Abbas were identified by police using CCTV footage, DNA and fingerprints left at the crime scene. They were arrested in January 2020.

After both pleaded guilty to the robbery offences, they were sentenced on Monday 18 October.

Edwards, of no fixed abode, was given a 55-month sentence. A 33-month suspended sentence he was serving for previous drug offences was also activated, meaning he will serve seven years and four months behind bars.

Abbas, who is three years younger than Edwards, will serve three years and one month in a young offenders institution.

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Both also had to pay £362 court costs.

A third man, aged 19, also pleaded guilty to robbery charges and was sentenced to two years and six months in a young offenders institution in November 2020.

Detective Constable Lisa Whitson, from Bedfordshire Police’s North Crime Investigation Department, said: “We are satisfied with the lengthy imprisonment for Edwards and the young offender institute sentence for Abbas.

“They initially denied involvement in these robberies, but pleaded guilty under the weight of evidence gathered by myself and my team.

“These incidents were violent and targeted towards hard-working taxi drivers. Nobody should ever feel scared when going to work and we are happy that the court-imposed sentences reflect the seriousness of this type of crime.”