Crime spree teenager caged

The teenager, from Northolt, ran off, throwing away his top and blade over a garden wall, later discovered by a police dog.

He was questioned and released but, eight weeks later, while still on bail, attacked a passenger on the 105 bus.

On July 15, he and another thug hit the man with a stick while a third kept watch in an attempt to take his mobile.

Prosecutor Azra Khan told Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday (20): "The victim had two cuts to his head which required a total of nine stitches.

The next day he and a gang struck again in Northala Fields, Northolt. They beat up a group and took their phones and money.

A few days later the thugs threatened two frightened schoolboys into handing over their bicycles in Hanwell Bunny Park which they then threw in the river.

And later that day in Ealing Broadway, he snatched a mobile phone from a man crossing the road. But he was seen by two plain-clothes officers who chased and caught him.

The youngster pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in May, two charges of robbery, one of attempted robbery and one of theft - all in a few days in July - at Acton Youth Court and was committed to the crown court for sentence.

Counsel, Heather Hope said he had been in custody since August and found it very difficult. He had not been in trouble before and had committed the offences just before being accepted by the army.

She said: "This was a few days of complete madness for something that was quite pointless. "

"He recognises the fear he must have put his victims through and there is no suggestion that he is going to go out and do something like this again."

But Judge Sam Katkhuda said he had to consider the victims and there was no alternative to custody. He sentenced him to 12 months in a young offenders' institution.