Teen grabbed around the neck in Warley Woods by phone muggers
Two teenagers out walking their dog in broad daylight were set upon by three men who grabbed one around the neck and robbed them of their mobile phones.
Mitchell Taylor, aged 24, of Clay Lane, Langley, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery for his part in the 'joint enterprise'.
Taylor had been drinking in his car with friends on June 12 this year when two 17-year-olds walked past with their dog in Warley Woods, Smethwick about 4.30pm.
Shortly after three men approached the teenagers, with one grabbing the boy by the neck and pressing something sharp into his skin, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Mr Mark Phillips, prosecuting, said one man demanded he hand over his phone, and when the teenager asked 'are you serious?', he was punched in the face and left with a bleeding lip and nose.
Throwing his phone down, the man turned to the girl and said 'and now you'.
He said: "She took that to mean he wanted her phone as well, so she took it out of her pocket and threw it on the ground."
Mr Phillips said the girl had seen the men at a nearby parked car before the robbery, so she took noted the registration and called police.
The car was registered to Taylor, Mr Phillips said, who was arrested at 'bail-type accommodation' Sycamore Lodge on June 16.
In their victim statements the teenagers say they were 'shocked and frightened'.
The girl said: "When he was hit in the face I was very scared they would hurt him more, or that they would hurt me.
"I think being robbed in the park will likely make me scared of going to the park in future. You should be allowed to walk in the park with your dog without being attacked or robbed."
Taylor's previous convictions include robbery, handling stolen goods, and grievous bodily harm.
Mr Jasvir Mann, mitigating, said the 'impressionable' Taylor had pleaded guilty to the joint enterprise, but was not the man who put his arm around the teenager's neck.
Mr Mann said: "He did not set out that particular day with the intention of committing any crime at all, least of all a robbery.
"To his shame he did not have the good sense to walk away from it."
Recorder Nigel Baker QC said it must have been a 'most frightening experience' for the boy, and the girl was 'no doubt petrified' by what she had seen.
Taylor was sentence to five years' jail for each robbery charge, to be served concurrently.
