Two thugs have been locked up after they robbed terrified teenagers of a watch and tobacco.

John O’Shea was jailed for two years and eight months and Alfie Robinson was sentenced to two years youth custody.

O’Shea, 21, was in January cleared of having a handgun while committing the two robbery offences and 18-year-old Robinson was acquitted of having a knife.

The prosecution alleged the pair mugged the two victims, aged 16 and 13, at gunpoint and knifepoint in a car park at Warden Bay.

The older teenager claimed a gun was put to his neck before his watch was taken. The other youth claimed a knife was held close to his stomach and his tobacco was stolen.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the friends were with others on the cliffs at Warden Bay in the early evening of July 18 last year when they were approached by O’Shea and Robinson.

Robinson, who was living in a tent in Warden at the time, claimed he robbed one of the youths because his dog “nearly” bit him the day before.

“I saw him in the car park and I was angry and annoyed,” he told the jury. "I accept I robbed him because I was angry and upset."

“He laughed in my face. I palmed him to the side of the face. I reached into his bag and took his tobacco and Rizlas, and then walked off.

“I didn’t have a knife. There was no gun and no knife involved.”

O’Shea, of Eastern Road, Leysdown, and Robinson, of Jefferson Road, Sheerness admitted one charge of robbery and denied the other, but were convicted. O’Shea admitted attempted intimidation.

O’Shea, who had been held in custody for eight months, was said to have been taking cocaine, ecstasy and “whatever he could get his hands on” at the time of the offences.

Judge Julian Smith said it was more serious for O’Shea because he had previous convictions. Robinson, whose girlfriend is pregnant, had no previous convictions or cautions.

He told O’Shea: “These were nasty bullying offences. Weapons would have put this case in a significantly higher category. You would have been looking at sentences in excess of five years.”

The judge said the victims had shown “remarkable resilience” in coping with what happened to them.

“You are both still young,” he added. “But I regret to say in each of your cases the sentence must be immediate.”

O’Shea was jailed for two years and four months for the robberies and four months consecutive for the “unpleasant” intimidation.