A gang of "ruthless" armed robbers made almost �500,000 by raiding rural sub-post offices across England and Wales, a court has heard.

The masked men tied up the postmaster or postmistress and their families and threatened them with knives until they opened the safe, Chester Crown Court was told on Thursday.

In one case they are accused of keeping a hostage overnight until the time lock on the safe was released.

All five men from the Liverpool area deny conspiracy to rob.

Stolen getaway vehicles

They are Stephen Barlow, 38, of Norris Green, his brother John, 39, of West Derby, Alan Motion, 34, of Bootle, Paul Molloy, 35, of Aintree, and Duane Trussell, 39, of Walton.

Out of 19 alleged raids they are accused of targeting three post offices twice and one in Frodsham, in Cheshire twice in less than five weeks.

The jury heard they used high-powered stolen cars or even their victim's vehicles to escape with cash ranging from less than �1,000 to almost �100,000.

They are also accused of raiding the bedrooms of postmasters and postmistresses to steal jewellery.

"Careful planning"

The alleged raids were carried out in Merseyside, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Anglesey, Flintshire and Deeside between May 2000 and November 2001.

Prosecution barrister Peter Hughes QC said the men had taken advantage of vulnerable postmasters and postmistresses living in remote rural areas.

He said the robberies required "careful planning and organisation" and the men had shown "a sense of purpose and a ruthless determination to see the thing through".

He said none of the men were caught red-handed but were arrested after police used hi-tech DNA and fibre evidence to snare them.

The case continues.