A 21-YEAR-OLD man who mugged a 13-year-old schoolboy for his mobile phone has been spared jail.

Joe Barraclough had struck when the teenager was on his way to school in some woods in the Lowerhouse area of Burnley.

The victim was on his phone, listening to some music, when the defendant approached him, demanded the phone and pushed him.

Burnley Crown Court was told how the victim went to the ground, losing his spectacles, and Barraclough stood over him and grappled with him for the phone.

He then punched the teenager in the eye and snatched the phone.

Prosecutor Sarah Statham said the victim went to the police after the attack on July 5.

The defendant was arrested in the Padiham area 20 minutes later and claimed there had been an altercation, but denied taking the phone.

Officers then went back to where they arrested the defendant and found the phone thrown over a garden wall and he owned up.

The hearing was told Barraclough had a conviction for stealing his parents’ television last year.

The defendant, of Airdrie Crescent, Burnley, admitted robbery.

Judge Beverley Lunt gave him 52 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, with 120 hours’ unpaid work.

He must pay £300 compensation.