A pair of 15-year-old boys who robbed another lad at knifepoint have walked free from court.

The teenagers from Parks targeted the youngster as he was waiting at a bus stop on Eldene Drive for a friend who was visiting his new home.

The older teenager, who is now 16, produced the knife and the other punched the victim from behind on Tuesday, September 9.

A judge imposed community orders after hearing how the boys were young and had not been in much trouble before.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the victim and his friend were at the bus stop.

“They saw the group of youngsters approaching – these two were part of the group. The group surrounded the two boys in a semi-circle,” she said.

“It was the older boy who made the first move, pulling out a knife. He said ‘Empty your pockets and give me your stuff’.”

The victim tried to speak to him to calm him down but the boy replied ‘empty your pockets of I’ll stab you’.

She said the other robber then came up behind the boy and punched him to the head and face three or four times, causing him to fall to the ground.

The victim managed to get up and run away a short distance but the attackers followed, grabbing him round the legs.

Miss Hingston said: “By this time he was sufficiently frightened to hand over his Samsung Galaxy Ace phone, lighter and cigarette papers.”

The teens pleaded guilty to robbery. They denied trying to rob the other boy and prosecutors dropped that allegation.

Rob Ross, for the younger boy, said the incident had brought his client up short and he pointed out that he was still very young.

His client had been put on a referral order for assault but it had not started at the time of the robbery, but it was now underway and he was doing well.

James Burke, for the older boy, said he had not been in trouble before, was at college and considering joining the army.

Passing sentence, Judge Peter Blair QC said: “I hope you have learned through this set of court proceedings quite how seriously this sort of offending behaviour is treated by the courts.

“It is extremely frightening for people to have things stolen from them under threats of violence. You used violence – if you were an adult I would be looking at three to four years.

“I am not going to do that because you are young men who need to be given the opportunity of making sure you don’t misbehave like this again.”

He imposed an 18-month youth rehabilitation order with curfews, intensive supervision and surveillance as well as reparation.