A TEENAGER robber was nabbed by police when he fell out of a chimney after hiding for ELEVEN hours.

Frank Barrow stole a motorbike from a Bury house and used it as the getaway vehicle in an armed raid on a Whitefield shop.

He fled from police — and hid in a Prestwich house while officers stood guard, before eventually emerging at 5.15am, and being arrested.

The 18 year old, of St John’s Court, Radcliffe, was ordered at Bolton Crown Court on Monday to serve three years in a young offenders’ institute after admitting burglary and robbery.

His accomplice in the robbery was Craig Knowles, aged 32, of Bury Old Road, Prestwich — a convicted robber whose previous convictions also include stealing laptops from Our Lady of Grace RC Primary School in Prestwich.

The court heard that Barrow had broken into a house in Middlesex Drive, Fishpool, on October 19, 2014, when the owner, Terrance Howard, was away for the weekend.

He and at least one unknown accomplice "ransacked every room in the house and even the garage," Judge Timothy Clayson was told, and Barrow stole two Yamaha motorbikes, a laptop, passports, driving licences and cash with a total value of almost £8,000.

Then on October 21 at 5.20pm, Knowles went into the Pound Plus shop in Bury New Road, Whitefield, wearing a mask and a hood.

He pulled out an imitation handgun and pointed it at a customer Maxine Lomax and at the shopkeeper Ali Vasilpoulos.

Knowles shouted at Ms Lomax that she would not be hurt if she did as she was told, and he ordered Mr Vasilpoulous to fill a blue plastic bag with cash.

The thief then fled with £400 and got onto the back of a Yamaha motorbike being ridden by Barrow.

It was at this point that things began to wrong for Barrow and Knowles.

Their motorbike crashed outside The Welcome Inn pub in Whitefield, injuring them both.

The court was told how the smash sent cash from the robbery fluttering into the air and coins spilling out onto the road.

One woman went to see if Knowles was okay amid the crash debris, but he ignored her as he raced to gather £20 notes from the road. Knowles's DNA was found at the scene.

He then went to tend to his injuries in the toilets of the Welcome Inn — and to order a taxi under the name of ‘Dave’ — while Barrow went to tend to his own wounds at a nearby cafe.

The taxi took Knowles to a house in Bury Old Road near the junction with Kenyon Lane, and it was not long before police had figured out the pair might head there.

Officers went to the house and the 39-year-old resident, Andrea Kane, answered to say Knowles had been there but had left.

But officers became suspicious when they spotted bloodstained clothing in the house.

They decided to stand guard from around 6.20pm and, it was at 2.25am the following day that Knowles knocked on the door — and was arrested.

Then, at 5.50am, another police officer, who was standing guard, heard a noise coming from the chimney, and saw Barrow emerge from it, via the fireplace.

Also in the chimney were passports and driving licences from the Middlesex Drive burglary.

While on remand in prison, the court was told, Barrow implicated himself on the robbery by writing a letter to Knowles asking him to take responsibility.

Knowles, who, the court heard, had suffered from heroin addiction and had battled to wean off the drug using methadone and implants, admitted robbery and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.

Judge Clayton described Knowles as "the prime mover" in the robbery and said he presented a serious threat to the public.

The court heard how Barrow had become addicted to Class A drugs aged 13,

Judge Clayson said: "He seems to have had an exceptionally unsupported young life, in that he has not had a great deal of help from those who should have been there to support him, which is a matter of sadness.

"But, Barrow, you are an adult now, and my warning to you is that, should you not change your ways, you face a future of many prison sentences. It is up to you now to change."

Kane, who admitted assisting an offender, was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.