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A judge slammed the “drunken thuggery” of a robber who attacked and stole from two bar workers making their way home.

Alan Metcalfe and another unidentified male threatened and physically assaulted two friends as they walked home from work in the early hours of the morning.

Metcalfe, 25, punched and kicked one of the men in the head before stealing his £1,000 Samsung mobile phone, cash and bank cards.

He also searched the second victim’s jacket and backpack in an attempt to steal but they were empty.

Alan Metcalfe (inset) was jailed for the robbery on Blakelock Road, Hartlepool.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the two victims, together with a third friend, were walking along Blakelock Road, in Hartlepool, at around 4am on July 16 last year after finishing their shift in a town centre bar.

After a brief interaction between Metcalfe and the unidentified accomplice with the group, they went their separate ways.

But they turned around and went after them soon afterwards, said prosecutor Peter Sabiston.

Mr Sabiston said: “The defendant said ‘give me your stuff now and we will just walk away and no one gets hurt’.”

Metcalfe then punched and kicked one of the men in the head and body and the other suspect joined in.

He tried to outrun his attackers but was unsuccessful. Metcalfe caught up with him and put him in a chokehold.

He told the other victim ‘if you try to run I will smash your face in’.

Bar customer knocked two men unconscious on dance floor

Mr Sabiston said: “Both assailants ran from the scene. It was simply good fortune that the victims escaped with what can be described as superficial injuries.”

The victim who was robbed said he suffered flashbacks when he revisited where it happened.

The other man said he was left constantly looking over his shoulder.

Metcalfe, a dad of two, of West View Road, Hartlepool, was jailed for three years and nine months after admitting robbery and attempted robbery.

Judge James Brown said described the offences as “drunken thuggery in the street”.

Ian Mullarkey, mitigating for Metcalfe, accepted it was a “plainly serious and unpleasant incident”, adding: “The defendant has asked me to convey to the court and to the complainants his remorse for having become involved in this offending.”

He submitted the robbery was not planned but had been a “chance encounter”.

Hartlepool robber who attacked bar workers on way home is jailed at Teesside Crown Court