TWO armed robbers jailed for more than six years for a raid on a Dunfermline bookies were caught thanks to their nicknames.

Lee Brown and Kyle Mackie, both aged 22, threatened staff at Ladbrokes' Baldridgeburn branch with a hammer and table leg on 10th October last year before making off with £2000.

The pair had attracted attention after walking down the street with their faces covered by scarves and carrying a length of wood but a woman recognised them and told officers that "Skinny Lee" and "Ginger Kyle" were the culprits.

Brown and Mackie had admitted the raid at a previous court appearance in January and, today at the High Court in Glasgow, Judge Lord Kinclaven sentenced each of them to three years and four months.

And he told the pair, "The time must come when you accept responsibility for your own actions. There is no alternative to a custodial sentence." The police managed to track down the masked raiders, who are both from Dunfermline, after one of them blew £69 on a pair of trainers for his sister.

Investigating officers had asked shops in the town centre whether anyone had recently made large purchases and banknotes used to buy the trainers had serial numbers matching those in the robbers haul.

The court heard that in the week leading up to the raid, the pair had spoken about debts they owed to local drug dealers.

Solicitor advocate John Scott, defending Brown, said, "He appears to genuinely regret what he has done." And Mackie's lawyer, Gordon Martin, said, "It is clear the most significant expression of remorse is tendering an early plea of guilty."