A SUPERMARKET manager has been jailed for two 'horrifying' aggravated burglaries where he branded a machete.

James Tomlinson, aged 33, carried out burst into two family homes with a gang of masked raiders after receiving a disciplinary in his job as a deputy manager at a Lidl store.

He left blood at the home in Sumner Street, Atherton, and at a home in Wigan Road, Westhoughton, but handed himself into police before he was arrested.

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said Tomlinson, who did not have his face covered, went into the Atherton terrace home with three men wearing balaclavas after walking through an unlocked door at about 8pm on January 16.

Victims Sian Metcalfe, her partner Scott Brides, their friend Todd Rushworth and the couple’s two children a boy, aged five, and a three-week-old baby were at the home when the incident took place.

Tomlinson said, 'listen love I know you have a baby' to Ms Metcalfe before threatening both of the men, demanding money and credit cards.

He struck Mr Brides with a glass coffee jar, cutting his head and ear.

Both men were told to lie face down while they were kicked. The defendant told Mr Rushworth he would 'cut his hands off' unless they told them where the money was. The burglars made off with an iPad and a phone.

Bolton Crown Court heard Tomlinson, of Charnwood Road, Blackley, and two men in balaclavas stormed into the terraced home in Westhoughton at about 11.30pm.

Siobhan McCormick and Darren Barton were in the living room while their children, aged five and four, were sleeping, when the men burst in, Tomlinson was holding a machete described as being about a metre in length.

Tomlinson struck Mr Barton with the handle of the machete and told him “I will cut your head off if you mess me about”. A Playstation and a mobile phone were stolen. The gang searched the. Tomlinson told the couple not to call police as he knew where they lived.

David Temkin, defending, said the crimes were 'extremely out of character' for Tomlinson, a father to a 10-year-old son.

He was said to have started drinking after being given a disciplinary at work and later became involved in the aggravated burglaries. He has previous convictions but nothing similar.

Judge Elliot Knopf, sentencing, said: “The crimes present a very horrifying and very worrying picture of someone who seems to have been actively involved in these two matters, taking a proactive and lead role rather than hanging back and letting others to make the running. This was by someone who is said to be a dedicated family man and a hardworking fellow.”

He was jailed for a total of 13 years after admitted two counts of aggravated burglary. The other men have not been arrested.