Two men who carried out a series of late night street robberies in Herne Bay have been locked up.

One girl had a screwdriver held to her face then thrust up her nostril, two schooboys were robbed in a park, a man was forced to withdraw £200 from a cash machine and another victim suffered an asthma attack after being threatened with a pair of scissors.

Police arrested Roger Wieting, 34, of Partridge Close, Herne Bay, and Lee Twyman, 20, of Linksfield Road, Westgate, who appeared for sentence at Canterbury Crown Court.

Twyman admitted six robberies and was sentenced to four and a half years. Wieting admitted three robberies and was jailed for three years.

Lucy Luttman, prosecuting, said a 16-year-old girl was threatened by Twyman who held two screwdrivers to her face and demanded money and her phone.

When a passer-by intervened, he said it was just a lover’s tiff and pushed the screwdriver up her nose.

About an hour later Twyman robbed two 13-year-old boys of cash and mobiles in a park.

Then Joshua Shenton saw Twyman and Wieting in Kings Road. Twyman stopped Mr Shenton demanding he empty his pockets which he did, giving the contents which included cash, credit cards and a passport to Twyman.

Wieting and Twyman frogmarched Mr Shenton to a garage forecourt. They got £200 from a cash machine and Twyman made Mr Shenton put his PIN in Twyman’s phone. They then came across a 15-year-old girl and her boyfriend. Twyman said he was going to rob them and they ran off chased by the accused.

The men caught them up and a pair of scissors, were taken from the boyfriend’s bag. Twyman threatened to stab the girl in the neck.

She suffered a panic attack and had to sit down and her boyfriend had to get an inhaler for her. As he did this, Twyman said if she didn’t calm down, he would stab her in the neck.

They emptied their pockets and walked to the end of the path and were told to wait and not leave until told to.

Both accused had previous convictions and Oliver Saxby, for Wieting, said he knew custody was the only option.

He now regretted his involvement and had shown insight into the effect on the victims. While in prison he was trying to sort his life out.

Peter Alcock, for Twyman, said he had shown genuine remorse and wanted to write letters of apology to the victims.

He was plainly affected by drink and drugs but was motivated to put events behind him. The robberies were unplanned intoxicated behaviour and happened over a short space of time.