A TEENAGE robber laughed as he threatened two 13-year-old boys with a replica gun, a court heard on Friday.

Salisbury Crown Court was told that 16-year-old Luke Wort held the realistic looking BB gun to the heads of the youngsters in two separate incidents on June 9 last year.

Nicholas Cotter, prosecuting, said the first victim had the gun held to his head for about 15 seconds and thought the weapon was real until Wort fired it at the ground and it didn’t sound like a real gun. Wort then laughed and walked away.

In the second incident, near Greencroft Park, Wort put the gun to the head of another boy and shouted at him to get on the floor. He forced the youngster to hand over his mobile phone before running away laughing, leaving the boy shocked and upset.

Defending Wort, Richard Tutt said the teenager was remorseful, empathetic and apologetic. He said Wort had only used the gun in his garden before that day and only had it with him because he was going to swap it with someone for a bike.

“It wasn’t loaded and he didn’t have any ball bearings on him. The first offence was a foolish prank, the second offence is more serious but there was a degree of peer pressure.”

Mr Tutt said Wort had been trying to turn his life around since the incident. He is working towards his GCSEs and has been accepted on a mechanics course.

Judge Keith Cutler told the teenager: “I hope you realise how badly you behaved that day. It really was a day of madness on your part, it may have seemed like a joke at the time but it was very serious.

“If you had been 18 your barrister and I would have been talking about four years in custody. I want you to undertake some very serious work on your behaviour to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

He sentenced him to a youth rehabilitation order for 18 months with a supervision requirement and a curfew between 9pm and 6am for three months.