A desperate junkie who snatched a teenage girl’s handbag pleaded for his freedom to get help with his chronic addiction.

But a judge told Mark Wooldridge he would be failing in his duty if he did not send him to jail.

The 35-year-old plumber had already racked up a long list of convictions when he mugged Rickki Dawson as she walked along a Sittingbourne street with her friend Bethany Hunt.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how Wooldridge approached the girls in Sunny Bank, Murston, on January 12 and said something.

He then grabbed Miss Dawson’s bag from her shoulder. The two girls shouted at him and asked for it back but Wooldridge emptied it out and took an iPod.

Miss Dawson tried to wave down cars for help before Steve King came along in his van and went to her aid. He saw her struggling on the ground with Wooldridge demanding: “Give it back.”

Wooldridge, of Castle Rough Lane, Kemsley, was jailed for 18 months after admitting robbery.

Glenn Harris, defending, said Wooldridge had been taking hard drugs since the age of 25 and was “doing quite well” for seven months while in a relationship with a neighbour.

He had moved away from drugs in London and obtained council accommodation when he formed the new relationship.

“He moved all of his worldly goods into her house down to the carpets, only for her to kick him out,” said Mr Harris.

“You left Rickki Dawson in a state of anxiety feeling she could not go out alone, finding it difficult to sleep and when she did had nightmares" - Judge Charles Byers

“He was left with a blow-up mattress next door. He had just proposed to this woman.”

Wooldridge was not able to get help from the police or the probation service and lapsed back into drug-taking.

“If he is sentenced above 16 months he will lose his flat,” said Mr Harris. “We will have another person on the streets with mental health problems when released.”

At the time of the mugging he had taken crack cocaine.

“He has paranoia and there were things going on in his mind when he committed the offence,” added Mr Harris.

But Judge Charles Byers asked: “What am I to do with him? These were vulnerable victims. They were 16 and 17. It is terrible at any age but at that age to be mugged, it is shocking.

“It is all about how terrible it is for him. I have to look at how terrible it is for the public.”

After unusually being allowed to address the judge from the dock, Wooldridge said: “I could have quite a successful career if I could beat my drug addiction. I have begged people all my life.

“I don’t want to be another statistic stuck in prison. I want to beat this once and for all. I am a lot older and wiser. I know there are two young victims in this. There was never any intention in that.

“I am really not like that. I can only put it down to drugs I was on that day. No-one has ever offered me any funding for rehabilitation. You can only do limited stuff in jail.

“I have found myself going round and round on this carousel. I am an intelligent guy and I really need help.”

But Judge Byers said Wooldridge had been given drug rehabilitation.

“I have taken into account everything you have personally addressed to me, but at the end of the day you knew nothing of the two girls walking down the street.

“You left Rickki Dawson in a state of anxiety feeling she could not go out alone, finding it difficult to sleep and when she did had nightmares.

“I would be failing in my duty, particularly as you were placed on a supervision requirement in 2012 so that you could address your problem.

“Going back on drugs displayed a weakness on your behalf. You have, therefore, placed yourself in breach of a suspended sentence order.

“There are many occasions when they tried to get you back on the straight and narrow. It didn’t help.”

Wooldridge was sentenced to 15 months for the robbery and three months consecutive for the breach.