TWO young robbers attacked a student making his way home from a railway station, a court heard.

Michael Hopps and Shane Richardson then broke into another student’s flat during a drunken rampage following a hospital visit.

Hopps, 23, was yesterday jailed for four years and four months, while his 17-year-old accomplice was given a 12-month detention and training order. Durham Crown Court heard how the pair had just left the city’s University Hospital of North Durham, where Richardson had sought treatment after putting his arm through a glass pane.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said their victim, a 24-year-old student, left Durham railway station at 12.15am on June 29.

Hopps followed him, then leapt on him from behind, put him in a headlock, before punching him, demanding his wallet and other property.

Richardson also made threats, before the student handed over his laptop computer, mobile phone, wallet, Ipod and sun glasses.

Despite his “distressed”

state, the victim contacted police and toured the city in a patrol car to find his assailants.

Police found Richardson, bare-chested with bloodstained track suit bottoms, sitting on a pavement outside a student property, with an open window.

Richardson pointed to a laptop computer, taken from the premises, under a nearby car. He was arrested, as was Hopps, who was spotted nearby. The stolen property was all recovered.

Hopps, of Watt Street, and Richardson, of Davy Street, both Ferryhill, County Durham, admitted robbery and burglary. Jim Withyman, for Hopps, said at the time his life “lost direction” and he took to drinking.

Ian West, for Richardson, said he played a lesser role.