A BULLY has been jailed for stealing a teenage student's dinner money.

Drug addict David Ions bullied 17-year-old David Close each time he came across him in Stockton town centre last summer.

David feared that jobless Ions, who he had not known previously, would stab or batter him if he did not hand over his dinner money.

Judge Peter Armstrong told Ions, 24, at Teesside Crown Court that he should have received consecutive sentences for the three charges of robbery he admitted.

But he said the total sentence would have been too long, and imposed a three-year sentence on each count, to run concurrently.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, told the court that Ions first struck at 11.30am on August 1 when he saw David at a bus stop in Stockton.

Ions snatched a bundle of papers from the college student and rifled through them before saying: "If you don't give me all your money, I'm going to batter you."

Mr Newcombe said the teenager handed over £3 before heroin addict Ions and a male accomplice made off.

Four days later, David was in the town centre again when Ions came up behind him, stuck what felt like a blade in his back and asked: "Are you going to give me some money then?"

Mr Newcombe said the teenager feared he would be stabbed if he did not hand over the cash he had to pay for his lunch, and gave Ions about £4.

On August 11, David was robbed of about £2 when he was at the bus stop again and Ions warned him: "I have got a knife. Give me your money."

The court heard that Ions has previous convictions for theft, burglaries, possession of heroin, possessing an offensive weapon and criminal damage.

Father-of-one Ions, of Myrtle Street, Stockton, had completed a three-month sentence in January for battery, but had been on remand since then and has come off drugs, the court heard.

Stephen Constantine, defending, told the court: "He didn't fully realise what he was doing amounted to robbery. It is clearly bullying.

"He is adamant he did not have a knife, but accepts he used words inferring he had a knife.

"Although they are three robberies, not one of them included or involved the use of actual violence - threats and intimidation, but no actual violence - so this young man did not suffer any direct physical harm as a result of these offences."