THE ringleaders in a 'vicious' robbery both had previous convictions, one of the men performing a sex act on himself in a library and the other stealing from his employers.

Daniel Priest, who hopes to become a bus driver when he gets out of jail, and Andrew Neighbours were described as having 'manipulated' younger men, some of them just teenage boys at the time, to carry out the street robbery in Worcester.

It was Priest and Neighbours who lured their vulnerable victim to a secluded spot in the city where there were no CCTV cameras, both men having earlier talked through the plot at the city centre McDonald's with the teenage boys who later launched the attack.

The victim had to go to A&E in Worcester after he was punched to the ground and kicked on the floor where he was left bleeding and bruised, his phone smashed so he could not call for help.

However, he courageously refused to hand over his bank card to his assailants. Priest, who called 999 after the robbery, was later to share photos of the victim's injuries as part of a 'bragging' thread with other attackers on Snapchat. Neighbours had earlier filmed himself urinating all over the victim's bath, bathroom floor and towels, sharing the video on social media.

As previously reported, Priest, 25, of Alderley Road, Bromsgrove was jailed for 20 months for conspiracy to rob at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday after he hatched the plan, admitting, when asked by the judge, that it was his idea.

Neighbours, 34, of Jackson Street, Oldbury who has also admitted the same conspiracy was remanded in custody at that same hearing after insisting he needed a pre-sentence report from the probation service before being sentenced by a judge.

Priest and Neighbours together met their victim, who has autism, off the train at Worcester Foregate Street railway station before luring him to secluded Carden Street on the pretext of looking for somewhere to eat. Unbeknown to the victim, a second group were following behind Priest, Neighbours and the 23-year-old victim, commencing an assault on him during the incident on February 8, 2020.

Priest and Neighbours had already befriended the victim before the conspiracy to rob him, visiting him at his home in Kidderminster and stealing PlayStation games on January 31 and February 6, 2020.

Andrew Davidson, prosecuting, called the robbery 'vicious' and 'savage' while the judge branded it 'despicable'. Priest had a previous conviction for theft by an employee from August 28, 2018.

He received a 20 week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, a sentence he later breached which led to its activation. Neighbours had a conviction for outraging public decency from August 22, 2005.

Mr Davidson was asked to read out details of the outraging public decency offence which occurred on February 24, 2005.

He said: "It appears the defendant was at a computer class. This was in a library."

Neighbours performed a sex act upon himself and 'this has been seen by others'. "He was approached by staff and stopped and he was later arrested by the police" said Mr Davidson.

The offence was committed when Neighbours was 17 - the day before his 18th birthday. It was revealed that Priest stole from the company where he worked in 2018 when he had become homeless, sleeping either in his van or at his works reception.

The father now hopes to get his public service vehicle licence and 'work for Diamond Coaches', his advocate said.

Judge James Burbidge QC did not jail two other men, now 18, for their role in the conspiracy to rob. He said: "It's my view him (Matthew Lloyd, another co-defendant) and one or two other people were manipulated by the older people."

The court heard that Priest wrote a letter to his victim, telling him: "I want to apologise for what I put you through."

Priest even expressed the hope that he and his victim 'can remain friends afterwards'.

He wrote in the letter, read out in court: "I want everyone to understand I'm not an evil person."