A GANG of Romanian immigrants who tried to steal from a Teesside newsagents by distracting staff have been jailed.

The four women and a man, who had travelled from Slough, Berkshire, to commit the crime, targeted a newsagents in Langley Avenue, Thornaby, on April 7.

The owner of the store, who was in the flat above the shop with his 11-year-old son and his friend, armed himself with an ornamental sword after he saw a woman with a metallic object, possibly a knife, enter the premises.

Teesside Crown Court heard the woman had sneaked upstairs while the gang distracted staff by asking questions and buying small items in the newsagents below.

Joseph Spencer, prosecuting, said: "He saw the woman in the hallway.

"She crossed her arms and he saw something shiny, and metallic, in her left arm.

"She stepped towards him. As a result of being in fear for him and the children, he got an ornamental sword from under his bed.

"He saw the woman had gone.

"He pressed a panic alarm before checking the flat and running downstairs.

"Once in the store, all the defendants were in the store, and he shouted at them to get out."

The gang ran from newsagents and got into a maroon car and sped off.

The police were called and the group was found some time later and arrested.

The woman with the suspected knife has not been traced and another man, the driver of the getaway car, ran off.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The store owner had recognised the woman in the flat from a previous occasion when a similar distraction burglary had taken place on the premises.

Negruta Trifu, 20, Vasile Tomescu, 18, Magureanca Augustin, 38, and Maria Vasile, 34, all of Mirador Crescent, Slough, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal.

Ivona Torok, 28, of Oxbridge Road, London, also admitted the charge.

They were all sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

Trifu, Augustin and Vasile, who gave birth in prison eight months ago, are to return to Romania.

Torok and Tomescu are seeking asylum in Britain.