A TEENAGER who robbed a man of his mobile phone after asking him for his autograph has been detained for three years.

Sean Mullany, aged 18, stole his victim's phone after he hit him over the back of the head.

Mullany of Stand Lane, Radcliffe, admitted one charge of robbery at Bolton Crown Court.

The court heard that victim Matthew McKey had been out with friends and caught a tram back to Prestwich.

As he left the station in the early hours of the morning Mullany asked McKey for his autograph. He then hit him over the head, pushed him up against a fence and hit him in the face before McKey was forced him to hand over his phone.

He was later able to identify his attacker from CCTV security cameras at the tram station.

Mullany had 12 previous convictions for 25 offences, including an attack on a 40-year-old man and a conviction for stabbing a fellow prisoner with a pen in a row over chips.

Other convictions included being drunk and disorderly, driving a stolen vehicle, theft and possessing an offensive weapon.

Defending Philip Rouse said Mullany had a difficult upbringing. He started drinking at the age of 14 and became involved with heroin when he was 15.

Judge Derwent Hope said robbery was a serious offence and the courts had a duty to protect people using public transport. He sentenced Mullany to three years in a Young Offenders' Institution.