TWO teenagers have been jailed after they robbed a pair of youths in a night-time attack.

Nathan Kilshaw, 19, and Matthew Sculpher, 18, both of Hamer Avenue, Blackburn, left their 16 and 17-year-old victims needing hospital treatment after the robbery in the Whitebirk area.

The pair admitted two counts of robbery. Sculpher has also admitted charges of witness intimidation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm relating to a 40-year-old man who had given evidence against him at a court case.

Lisa Worsley, prosecuting, told the court the robbery took place on May 31 at night, in the Whitebirk area of Blackburn. The two victims were pushing a scooter and one was carrying a helmet.

The two defendants had been drinking and had shouted abusive comments at the two teenagers as they passed by.

The teenagers went on to be assaulted. Sculpher had been the instigator and demanded the keys for the scooter, the court heard.

The two teenagers went for help and their injuries were treated at hospital. One had swelling to his cheek and the other had a tender jaw. The two defendants were arrested later that day.

The other offences that Sculpher had admitted related to a man who had given evidence at a court case against him for interference with a motor vehicle. After the case and while an appeal was pending, he saw the witness on August 6.

He was abusive to the man, punched him five times and kicked him once while he was on the ground.

The man sustained a cut to his eye, but Sculpher had pleaded guilty on the basis the kick had not caused that.

A judge told the two defendants the offences were so serious that only immediate custodial sentences could be justified.

Sculpher was sentenced to a total of fifteen months at a young offenders’ institution, and Kilshaw to six months.