An Ashford teenager with a criminal record of more than 17 offences has now gone to jail for attempted robbery.

Jobless steelfitter Rudy Little, 18, had admitted trying to get cigarettes from a man outside a petrol station.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Little had been armed with a knife and when his victim fled along Beaver Lane, he chased him.

Prosecutor Antony Hook said Little, of Matfield Close, South Ashford, then began stabbing the door as the victim and his partner locked themselves inside the house.

Little – who later claimed to have no memory of the attack – then went to another house in the street and hurled a piece of concrete through the glass door.

The prosecutor said that in December last year, a man was on his way to a petrol station in Ashford when Little approached him demanding cigarettes.

"There has to come a time when you will have to pull yourself together and stop committing offences." - Judge Nigel Van Der Bijl

“The victim went to the garage and Little came up to him again and produced a red-handled knife demanding cigarettes and money.

“He fled and ran to his home where his partner was, pursued by the defendant, who then damaged their door with his knife," he added.

Little then went to another address in Beaver Road and began banging on the window.

“Little tried to get inside and then he attacked the front door by throwing a piece of concrete through the glass before running off, “ said the prosecutor.

Little, who boasts 13 pages of previous convictions including theft, criminal damage and robbery, was arrested later.

He later admitted attempted robbery, causing criminal damage and having a bladed article in a public place.

Nicholas Maggs, for Little, said he had lost his £300 a week job steel fitting in Battersea and had been using drink and drugs before the offences.

He said he planned to move to Malaga in Spain where his mother is living when he is released from his jail sentence.

“He is not simply saying that because he lost his job and because he was taking illegal substances therefore he committed these offences – that must be right because he has committed offences before.”

Judge Nigel Van Der Bijl jailed him for three years telling him: “There has to come a time when you will have to pull yourself together and stop committing offences.

“Unless you do then it will be prison after prison after prison – and no-one wants to send someone as young as you there.”

Investigating officer, Det Con Carl Evans said: "There is no doubt the events of that night were fuelled by alcohol and had officers not attended so swiftly, there is no knowing what they might have prevented.

"In a very short space of time, his victims were either subjected to some form of violence.

"Quite why Little decided to walk the streets in possession of a knife only he will know, but he will have learned there are serious consequences for doing so.

"Let’s hope he learns that lesson and reflects on his actions during his time in prison."

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