Two boys who used a screwdriver as a weapon as they robbed a teenager of his mobile phone were locked up yesterday.

The 15-year-olds who cannot be named for legal reasons were tracked down by the victim and his father. They then alerted the police, Deborah Sherwin, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court.

She said a group of teenagers had been videoing themselves skateboarding in Hartlepool when they were targeted by the pair and two others.

They stood in front of a 17-year-old, blocking his path and demanded his bag.

One boy produced a screwdriver in his left hand and said: "Give me the bag or I will stab you with this."

The boy went to stab him in the head with the screwdriver but his intended victim pulled his head away, the court was told.

The accomplice grabbed a mobile phone worth £70 from the bag while the other boy prodded him in the back with the screwdriver.

Police initially arrested four youths after the victim and his father saw them in the area. One boy admitted running off with the mobile phone but denied seeing the other with the screwdriver.

The boy with the screwdriver maintained he was under the influence of alcohol, said Roy Mitchell defending. The other offered an apology to his victim, said Peter Schofield, also defending.

Both boys, from Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to the robbery. The bag-snatcher also admitted handling a stolen hi-fi.

They were each sentenced to an 18-month detention and training order. They will be released after serving half of it.