TWO robbers have been jailed following a string of raids on shops, restaurants and garages across Oxford.

Jovan Carthy, 26, and Andrew Wright, 27, carried out a spree of till-snatches and distraction thefts last summer to fuel their drug habits.

In total, they stole about £1,500 from Co-op stores in Wood Farm, Marston and Cowley Road, McDonald's restaurant, in Headington, and the BP garage, in Woodstock Road.

One of the men also hit a cashier at the garage who tried to stop them grabbing cash from the till.

The spree came to an end when police recognised the two men on CCTV footage.

On Monday at Oxford Crown Court, Carthy, of Hundred Acres Close, in Cowley, was jailed for four-and-a-half years, while Wright, of Ladenham Road, in Blackbird Leys, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years.

Det Sgt George Mynehan, of the city robbery team, said: "This type of offence has an obvious affect on the victims, which, in this case, were mainly young women."

The court heard the pair committed the crimes to feed £60-a-day crack cocaine and heroin habits.

Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said the pair together terrorised mainly women shopkeepers.

He said at 4am in August, the men raided the BP garage and, as the cashier tried to stop them snatching the cash, one of the men hit her around the head. They were arrested the next day.

The court heard Wright was on licence from prison for a robbery conviction when he committed the crimes, while Carthy had served six years for manslaughter.

Jennifer Edwards and Stephen Bentley, defending the men, said that they had carried out the raids to fund their addiction to drugs.

Ms Edwards said: "Mr Carthy is a man of some intellect and he is not lost to society. He is already making a contribution and when he's released he will make even more of a contribution."

Wright admitted seven counts of theft and two of robbery, and Carthy five of theft and one of robbery.

Judge Tom Corrie said: "Many of the cashiers were female and in this case the thefts were planned to frighten as well as being serious."

A Co-op spokesman said it did not want to comment, and no one was available from McDonald's or BP.