A JUNKIE who robbed a schoolboy of his £300 bike in a Netherton park sold it for £20 to buy heroin.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Scott Harris took the BMX from the frightened 11-year-old while on bail after stealing a bike from a 15-year-old boy and selling that machine for £10.

Harris, aged 28, was told by Recorder Martin Butterworth his criminal record demonstrated that, having developed a long standing drug addiction, he had clearly decided to steal and rob vulnerable people to fund his habit.

As he jailed Harris for 22 months, the Recorder told him: "Stealing bicycles left you with the belief that you can do it with impunity. A bicycle can be cherished by its owner and you caused a great deal of distress and trauma to your young vulnerable victims."

He said Harris had deliberately targeted the 11-year-old boy to snatch his bicycle "unquestionably leaving him upset and extremely affected by the crime".

Harris, of Ladywood Close, Quarry Bank, stole the bicycle belonging to the 15-year-old after it had been left outside a shop and he told police he had sold it cheaply to a man from Saltwells.

Neil Ahuja, prosecuting, said the 15-year-old's bicycle was recovered by the police but the BMX taken from the 11-year-old at the Dudley Wood Road Park was still missing.

He said Harris grabbed the handle bars of the bike after the boy's mother had walked away from the scene and he pulled it away from him by force before riding off leaving his victim "frozen to the spot."

Simon Hanns, for Harris, told the court his client accepted it was "cowardly" offending and maintained he was now determined to try and resolve his drug problem.