TWO teenagers who robbed a 17-year-old boy after grabbing him by the throat were sent to youth custody.

Andrew Gorman and Gareth Lomax approached the youth and ordered him to hand over his money as he was walking along Shifnall Street, on the outskirts of Bolton town centre.

When the boy refused, Gorman grabbed him by the throat and threatened him. The younger boy then gave him the money he had in his pocket.

Gorman was sent to youth custody for two-and-a-half years, to be served after he completes a total of 222 days from a previous sentence. Lomax was sent to a Young Offenders Institution for 21 months. Both Gorman and Lomax had previous convictions for robbery and other offences of dishonesty.

Recorder Jonathan Foster, QC, told Bolton Crown Court that street crimes such as robberies impinged on people's free movement around the streets.

Gorman, aged 18, of Bankfield Street, Deane, and Lomax, aged 18, of Longthorne Walk, Deane, admitted robbery.

The court heard that the victim noticed the two following him. They caught up with him and demanded cash, but he ran away. The pair caught him and Gorman grabbed him by the throat and pushed him up against a wall.

They took cash off him and told him not to tell the police or they would get him, but two men passing in a car had seen part of the robbery and stopped to help.

Gorman and Lomax ran off, pursued by their victim and the two men. A passing police car stopped and later arrested the pair some distance away.

Gorman's previous criminal record included a robbery of a 16-year-old, battery, possessing a bladed instrument, theft and assault. Lomax also had a previous conviction for threatening a 61-year-old Asian woman in a shop with a deactivated firearm.

The court heard that Gorman had a troubled upbringing and had been excluded from school because of his reckless behaviour.

Lomax had left his parents' home to live at his grandparents house in his early teens. His father had offered him a job as a roofer in his company.