TWO 15-year-old girls who carried out a violent street robbery in Blackburn have both been locked up for three years.

Their victim, an older girl, was punched, kicked and had chunks of her hair pulled out.

Judge Brian Duckworth, passing sentence, said: "This was an appalling act of street violence.

"It was cruel conduct in the extreme, evil behaviour fuelled by drink."

He added: "The message must go out that the streets of towns like Blackburn must be kept safe so young people can go and walk around without being attacked."

The two girls, from Blackburn, who cannot be named because of their age, had both pleaded guilty to robbery.

Louise Whaites, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said the slightly built 17-year-old girl had been walking towards Blackburn town centre on the night of January 23 this year.

As she passed Carlinghurst Road one of the girls asked her for a cigarette. She was asked for 20p but said she did not have any money.

She was punched and kicked on the legs. She ran across the road, but was chased and grabbed from behind. The complainant managed to dial 999 and scream down her mobile phone.

She was forced behind a low wall, kicked again and the phone was snatched from her hands.

She tried to escape by going into flats, even running into the flat of an elderly person.

The victim, who was bleeding from the nose and mouth, later went to hospital for treatment.

One of the defendants had no previous convictions. The other had committed ten previous offences, including attempted robbery.