TWO MEN who drove a car through a shop door at night and carried out a burglary as firearms police watched have been jailed.

David John Marsh, 50, and Martin Leo Duffy, 42, equipped themselves with hammers and took builders’ rubble sacks to carry out items from the shop, said Jade Edwards, prosecuting.

They rammed a Golf through the Spar shop door before stuffing their bags from its displays and started loading them into a Golf they had also brought with them.

But police in an unmarked car saw what they were doing, tasered them and they were arrested at the scene.

North Yorkshire Police disclosed after the court case the officers were part of the Firearms Support Unit

Judge Simon Hickey said people who use a vehicle in the burglary as the raiders had done have to go to prison.

“Fortunately, the police were quickly on the scene and effectively watching while you drove the car into the Spar shop,” he said.

Marsh, of no fixed address, was jailed for two years and Duffy, of Wilkinson Flats, Scalby, Scarborough, for 22 months at York Crown Court. Both pleaded guilty to burglary.

York Crown Court heard both had become addicted to heroin at a young age, and although they had had periods without drugs, both were drug users at the time of the raid.

Watch the raid on this police video.

Ms Edwards said the police officers were on patrol in Falsgrave Road, Scarborough at 2.10am on March 7 when they spotted the raiders at the nearby Spar shop and intervened.

The burglars had loaded one sack with 31 bottles of spirits worth £394 and another with 30 other items worth £190.

The door ramming caused damage worth £10,000, she said.

In police interviews, Duffy denied that he had the hammer police found in his pocket or being at the shop.

Marsh told police he was better in prison because he had argued with his partner.

Both men have long records, said Ms Edwards and have carried out previous burglaries.

For Marsh, James Littlehales said he was institutionalised.

“Prison has effectively become a bolthole for him when things go wrong,” he said.

He had mental health issues as well as addiction.

For Duffy, Angus MacDonald said he would lose his accommodation as a result of being locked up.

He planned to make a new start on release by moving to County Durham where he had family.

He was already working with Horizons drug rehabilitation agency to tackle his addiction.

Detective Sergeant David Adams, of the Scarborough Investigation Hub, said: "Marsh and Duffy showed a flagrant disregard for the wider public safety in their actions by effectively using the car as a battering ram. Both men now have time to reflect upon their dangerous and selfish actions in prison.

“This case sends a clear message that we will not let reckless and selfish criminal behaviour like this go without sanction and appropriate punishment. You will be put before the court and held accountable for your actions."

North Yorkshire Police Inspector Neil Drummond of the Firearms Support Unit, said: ““I feel great pride in the actions taken on the night by my team and it is only right that both officers should be commended for their quick and decisive actions when faced with such violence.”