A gang who planned a smash and grab armed robbery in a Fife town have been jailed for a total of 47 years.

The seven men targeted the Mappin and Webb store at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews in March 2015.

Weapons were bought, a recce was carried out on the shop and two scooters were stolen in preparation for the heist.

Unknown to the raiders, police had been watching and moved in shortly before they could carry out the crime.

Paul Hogwood, 56; Louie Attwood, 21; Peter Attwood, 44; Kevin Mulheron, 34; Tommy Slayford, 20; Benson Aluko, 20, and Kai McGinley, 17, were earlier found guilty of planning to target the Mappin and Webb jewellers at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews on March 3, 2015.

They were remanded in custody after their convictions and had sentences handed to them at the High Court in Paisley on Wednesday.

Judge John Morris QC branded Hogwood a "career criminal" and imposed a ten-year sentence, the highest of the gang.

Peter Atwood, described as a "serial criminal and ring leader" was jailed for nine years, while Mulheron was jailed him for seven and a half years for his part.

Slayford was sentenced to five and a half years and Aluko, McGinley and Louie Atwood were handed five years each and told they were part of a conspiracy that would have "brought terror" to their intended victims.

Speaking at the conclusion of the trial, detective inspector Stevie Sandilands from Police Scotland's Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit said the gang had a history of this kind of offence and was being investigated by the MET Police Flying Squad when they came to Scotland.

He said: "From the moment they crossed the border of Scotland they were under 24-hour surveillance.

"I feel they targeted the jewellers at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews because they thought it was a soft target.

"Obviously that's a high-profile location and there was a significant reward in it for them had they been successful.

"At the time of this offence there would have been several hundreds of thousands of pounds of jewellery in that jeweller."

He said the gang had a base in Glasgow and came to St Andrews on a recce on February 25, with two of the men visiting the hotel and jewellers on foot, and locating routes in and out of the town as well.

On March 2, the gang travelled to Glasgow with a silver BMW and a white Transit van.

Mr Sandilands said: "Within the white transit van were two stolen motor scooters that were going to be used in this robbery.

"On the morning of March 3, the gang again travelled to the St Andrews area in those two vehicles.

"When they regrouped in the St Andrews area it became clear that the planning phase of this robbery had concluded and they were now prepared to commit this offence."

At that point police, including armed support, swooped on the gang and detained them in St Andrews.

Mr Sandilands said the arrests would have been "unexpected" for people going about their business in St Andrews but the potential impact of the robbery had it gone ahead would have been much worse.

He said: "The impact this offence would have had on the community had they been successful would have been horrendous.

"The impact it would have had on Mappin and Webb jewellers, the staff at the Old Course Hotel and the wider community of St Andrews would have been horrific.

"They are very dangerous individuals and the level of violence they were preparing to utilise to be successful in this robbery was immense.

"They had armed themselves with weapons and to carry out this incident and we know from previous history smash and grab robberies are frantic.

"They are there to cause mayhem and there to cause confusion and there to put a level of fear into the public.

"They were also prepared to intimidate any potential witnesses or victims that stood in their way."

North east Fife chief inspector Adrian Annandale said the robbery "would have been massive."

He said: "The potential of this was huge in respect of the impact on the community, the impact on the resources of Police Scotland and the investigative resources that would have had to be in place to reassure the local business community.

"St Andrews may have been viewed as an easy target but this has shown there are no easy targets and it was reassuring to the community that we have managed to get a successful conclusion at the court."