Knifepoint robber is now behind bars

Dillon Sullivan committed the offences to feed a crack cocaine habit. The 19-year-old had previous convictions for robbery and was sentenced to three and a half years at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to two charges of robbery and was told by the judge to change his ways while he was still a young man.

On October 19 at 7pm Sullivan, of no fixed address, approached a 21-year-old woman who was walking alone in Parsons Hill.

Prosecutor Mark Rees said: "He produced a six-inch flick knife, pointed it at her stomach and said 'give me your phone'.

"The phone was worth £400.

"It was dark and the woman was on her own."

At 5pm the following day Sullivan went up to an 18-year-old man in Birchfield Lane and demanded the iPod touch the victim was carrying in his hand, this time threatening him with a two-inch knife.

The phone was worth £150 and like the one from the previous day's robbery has never been recovered.

Sullivan initially denied both robberies when interviewed police but a few weeks later he fully cooperated and pleaded guilty in court earlier this month.

Defending his client, Bernard Porter pleaded with the judge for a short custodial sentence to be passed.

He said: "At the time these offences were committed he was effectively homeless. He was also addicted to crack cocaine."

Recorder Andrew Smith QC told Sullivan he would serve half of his three and a half year sentence.

He added: "At the age of 19 you have the potential to change the path you have set yourself on."

Sullivan will serve his sentence in a young offenders institution.