A TEENAGER convicted of robbing a security guard was locked up for six years yesterday.

John Fusco had been wielding a bat when he and a friend went into the mobile hut on a site near Peterlee, County Durham, in April.

Security guard Mark Jarrett, 19, was attacked when he refused to hand over jewellery he was wearing.

Mr Jarrett suffered a broken elbow in the attack, during which he was hit on the arm and head.

Yesterday, Fusco, 18, of Elliott Road, Peterlee, appeared before Teesside Crown Court, where he denied robbery but was convicted by the jury.

Judge Michael Taylor sentenced him to six years in a young offenders' institution, describing the attack as "mean, vicious and unpleasant".

Mr Jarrett had told police one of his attackers had a tattoo on his leg, which appeared to be an animal because there was a tail towards the ankle. Fusco had the tattoo of a dragon on his leg.

Fusco told the court he had nothing to do with the robbery and claimed he had been in bed at the time.

After the conviction, Peter Kilgour, for Fusco, said he had been only 17 at the time of the offence and had had problems with drug abuse.

His use of drugs had become an escape route from the unhappy circumstances of his family life, said Mr Kilgour.