A DRUG addict knifeman who robbed a teenager of gold rings and his mobile phone was jailed for four years yesterday.

Teesside Crown Court was told that Robert Maxwell, 22, showed the youth a black-handled knife tucked into his waistband when he demanded two gold rings and the phone as he sat next to him on a bench in Stockton High Street.

Maxwell asked him if he wanted to be stabbed in the neck, said Martina Connolly, prosecuting.

Maxwell walked off ordering him: "Stay there or I'll stab you."

He was traced after he made a call on the mobile phone, and the victim and his friend picked him out on identification parades, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Maxwell had convictions dating back to 1999 when he first began taking heroin, said Stephen Constantine, mitigating.

He said: "This is his first-ever offence of violence.

"He has absolutely no recollection of this offence, he had been taking heroin and a variety of pills and potions.

"But he has been in custody and he is quitting drugs and he wants to make a fresh start away from this area when he has served his sentence."

He said that Maxwell had gone back on heroin within days of his last release from prison for driving offences and handling stolen goods.

Maxwell, of Tilery Way, Stockton, was jailed for four years after he pleaded guilty to the September 14 robbery.