A SERIAL teenage robber who took cash and a mobile telephone from two Dudley schoolboys has been warned he is facing a long spell behind bars.

Thomas Rose had appeared before courts 11 times for robbery or attempted robbery, said Christopher O’Gorman, defending.

But he stressed the 18-year-old had never laid a finger on any of his victims adding: “There were threats that were supposedly backed up with a knife.”

The teenager, he told Wolverhampton Crown Court, had already served two custodial sentences for his previous offending.

Rose, of Sidwick Crescent, Ettingshall, Wolverhampton, admitted two charges of robbing the Dudley boys and he was remanded in custody until June 25 for reports to be prepared.

Recorder Abigail Nixon told him it was inevitable he would be sent into custody, adding: "It is just a matter of how long.”

She told Rose that for a young man his record was “tragic” adding, “Be under no illusions - it is going to be custody.”