A GANG which carried out vicious, late-night street robberies has been locked up for a total of 12 years.

The three men followed their victims in a car and set upon them with a flurry of kicks and punches when no one else was around in the Bank Top and Preston New Road areas of Blackburn, Preston Crown Court was told.

However, during their third attack in nine days, they were caught in the act after police set up patrols and arrested them when they stole a handbag from a 46 year-old woman.

Belall Badat, 20, and Kelvin Hussain, 17, were each sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institution while Sadik Badat, 23, was sentenced to four years in jail.

Det Sgt Paul Withers said after the case: "They were really nasty and violent offences and very distressing to the victims. They drove about clocking vulnerable people on their own and attacked them, whether they were male or female.

"We don't know why they suddenly started committing the robberies. The money was not for drugs, they just frittered it away on nothing."

The first robbery happened on August 15 just before midnight in Preston New Road, near the junction of Beardwood.

A 21-year-old man was walking down an alleyway when he heard a car door slam then saw several men walking towards him. One punched him and pulled to the ground before he ran off.

The attackers caught up with him and demanded cash. They stole £10 and snatched his credit card and asked for his pin number before fleeing in a car.

Peter Horgan, prosecuting, said: "After the attack, the victim said he was shaking so much he could hear the change in his pocket rattling."

The second attack, three days later, happened just after midnight when a 26-year-old man, who had been out with friends, was walking along Garden Street in Bank Top. Three men ran up from behind him before one demanded to know how much money he had. The court heard how one attacker then kung-fu kicked the victim in the back of the head and they stole £8 and his mobile phone and kicked him again as he lay on the floor. The man suffered several cuts and bruises to his head and one fingernail was almost hanging off.

By the time of the third attack, the court heard, police had launched Operation Explore, which involved high-visibility patrols to reassure residents and catch the gang in the act. Sergeant Lee Bridge and PC Gill Whalley spotted the men on August 25 at 12.15am, watching a woman using a cash point near the Night and Day store on Bank Top.

Hussain, of Shadsworth Close, pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery, while Sadik Badat and Belall Badat, both of Winmarleigh Walk, each admitted two counts of robbery.

Habib Badat, of Romney Walk, was also sentenced to 180 hours' community punishment and banned for driving for two years after admitting dangerous driving.

Sentencing, Judge David Boulton described the attacks as 'vicious', 'outrageous' and 'unforgivable'.