HEROIN addicts have been jailed for robbery after one held onto a terrified teenage shop worker while the other made off with a vacuum cleaner.

The court heard Christopher Holland (pictured) and his 17-year-old accomplice, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had worked as a team before stealing items to feed their habits.

They took advantage of the young worker after he was left alone at Second City Electricals in Gorse Hill, taking the £185 machine.

A judge sitting at Swindon Crown Court heard that both men had long lists of previous convictions with 20-year-old Holland having committed two previous robberies and the teenager three one of which they carried out together.

Although both men denied the charge, a jury found them both guilty of the offence after a crown court trial last month.

They heard that both men went into the shop and while Holland put his arm around the shoulder of the 17-year-old shop worker, his accomplice left with the appliance.

The teenager also pleaded guilty to the theft of the shop worker's bicycle after the robbery.

Francis Chamberlain, defend-ing Holland, said that his client realised he was in an extremely serious position having a poor record of past offences, two of which were robberies.

"It is in law only just a robbery," he said, adding that had his client not put an arm around the shop worker's shoulder then it would only have been a theft.

He said: "Quite clearly he had a poor record not only in the amount of convictions but also because of the way he has responded to community orders.

"The heart of the problem is clearly his addiction to drugs, blaming his offending on heroin. He is off heroin at the moment having been in custody since November."

He said that were Holland, of Frobisher Drive, released from prison immediately he accepted he was likely to return to taking the drug.

Robin Shellard, defending the teenager, said that his criminal record including three previous robberies was affected by his taking heroin and crack cocaine.

He said that his client suffered with severe learning difficulties putting him in the bottom five per cent of the population.

Mr Shellard said that the teen-ager had been in the care system for many years and there were real fears that he would become institutionalised if he continued to receive prison terms.

The judge told the robbers: "The victim was a 17-year-old man who had worked there for only three weeks when he was left in charge by his employer."

He jailed Holland for 14 months, telling him he would serve half of that time and the four and a half months he had already served would count towards that time.

The teenager was sentenced to a 10 month detention and training order, which meant he would do five months in a young offenders institution and five months of training afterwards.

The time spent on remand does not count towards the sentence.