A man who stole a 16-year-old boy’s £4,500 electric bike after threatening to stab him has been jailed.

Levi Martin, 19, of Newark Road, Lincoln, snatched the youth’s bicycle at the Lincoln High Street railway crossing on July 13.

He had warned the boy: “Hand me that bike or I will stab you.”

Martin admitted robbery at Lincoln Crown Court and was sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institution.

Martin was among a group of youths who approached the victim and his friend at around 18:45 BST.

Prosecutor Noel Philo said Martin, who asked the boy for drugs, grabbed the ignition keys and ordered him off the bike.

Philo said the victim didn’t see a knife, but thought there was one and got scared.

The lawyer told the court that several of the victim’s friends took photographs of the thief and tried to chase him, but were warned: “If you keep following me, I will stab you – you don’t know what I will do or what I will do.” “I’m on my way.”

In a statement read to the court, the victim described how she was now afraid to go out for fear of being robbed again.

“It’s made me feel very depressed mentally and physically because I can’t go to the gym anymore,” he said.

Mitigating, Tom Heath said his client had suffered a troubled childhood, but accepted it was a very unpleasant offence.

“He didn’t actually pull out any knives and the incident was pretty short-lived,” he said.

The court heard Martin’s offending was aggravated by his previous convictions for robbery, affray and grievous bodily harm.

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