Adam Christopher Irwin appeared in Tamworth District Court via video link from where he is being held in custody in Cessnock.

The 28-year-old was arrested by special strike force police in September last year after armed robberies in Tamworth and Narrabri a year earlier, where cash and cigarettes were stolen.

The court heard the prosecution was "ready to proceed" with sentencing after Irwin previously pleaded guilty to two charges of armed robbery with an offensive weapon.

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"The parties seem to agree it has 45 minutes to an hour in it," DPP solicitor Max Dixon told the court.

He asked for a sentencing date to be set in the district court "in an effort to finalise the matter".

Judge Deborah Payne addressed Irwin, who appeared on video link from jail wearing prison greens.

"Have you done a bit of jail, or a lot?" she asked him.

Irwin replied that he had served some time behind bars for an unrelated offence, before his defence solicitor interjected.

"That's the worst of it," solicitor Tammy White told the court.

"It's the first of this type of offence on his record."

Judge Payne adjourned the case until June to check in on how it was progressing, and asked the lawyers involved to prepare for sentencing.

Irwin has been behind bars since his September 2020 arrest by officers from Strike Force Chowan, which was set up by Oxley detectives to investigate the armed robberies.

Irwin admitted to holding up a Shell truck stop on the Newell Highway in Narrabri on the morning of September 26, 2019, where he threatened an employee with a knife before fleeing with cash and cigarettes.

He is thought to have had another man with him at the time, but the court heard it was an "unidentified co-offender".

Just days later on the evening of September 29, 2019, Irwin threatened two staff members with a knife at the Oxley Vale Superette on Manilla Road before stealing cash and cigarettes.

After an extensive investigation by the strike force and a public appeal for information, Irwin was arrested.

He made no application for his release and Judge Payne formally refused him bail.

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