A TEENAGED robber who rendered a 16-year-old youth unconscious with a wrestling hold he learned while being held in custody has been put back behind bars for a further three years.

Jordan Butler, of no fixed address, put his arm around the neck of the youth after they met up at the Saltwells Nature Reserve, near Quarry Bank, before taking property including his mobile telephone and baseball cap, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Judge Amjad Nawaz described the offence as “mean and despicable” and he told 18-year-old Butler: "You are a bully.

“You boasted to your friends you had learnt that particular hold while you were in custody.

"The folly and stupidity is that you just did not realise how dangerous that was. You left this young man unconscious. You did not know if he would choke on his tongue. You did not know if he would live. You did not care."

The Judge said Butler had an unenviable criminal record having committed 19 previous offences in just three years and he warned him: "If you continue in this way you are going to spend longer and longer in custody."

Butler, who has four previous convictions for robbery, admitted robbery but Gurdeep Garcha, defending, said: "He did not appreciate just what might have followed.

"He got carried away in the moment. He had learnt that hold in prison - it was a wrestling manoevre. He met his victim to catch-up but once he arrived he decided to steal from him."

It was accepted, Mr Garcha said, that the violence he used was "unpleasant" and he added: "He has a grim past but there are signs of him making progress with his life in the future."

Ian Ball, prosecuting, said the 16-year-old agreed to meet Butler at the nature reserve near Merry Hill and they smoked cannabis together.

But the youth then suddenly felt an arm go across his neck, he could not breathe and he passed out.

He came to a couple of minutes later and his property had gone.