A 16-year-old wept and clung to his mother as he was sent to custody for wielding a "Rambo-style" knife during a break-in.

Wesley Sinnott armed himself with the nine-inch blade and a baseball bat on October 17 to terrify the occupant of a flat in Hewell Road, Redditch, over drugs.

The knife was pressed against victim Kevin Lewis's neck while demands were made to reveal where he kept a stash of cannabis.

Sinnott and accomplice Leon Lungrin left after a search revealed no drugs.

Judge David Matthews branded Sinnott 'the senior partner' in the incident, even though Lungrin was aged 19. He said the knife was used by Sinnott, of Hertford Road, Alcester, 'to no small purpose' to terrorise Mr Lewis.

The judge said Lungrin, of Evesham Mews, George Walk, Redditch, should have been more worldly and restrained because he was older.

Sinnott was given an 18-month detention and training order. Lungrin was sentenced to 20 months detention.

At Worcester Crown Court, both defendants pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary. Lungrin's sentence included two months for an earlier affray.

A passer-by had seen the burglars hiding behind a wall. Police called to the scene found Sinnott with the bat down his trouser leg. A knife was found in a hedge near him. Lungrin was caught in a garden in Bromsgrove Road, Redditch.

Glyn Samuel, for Sinnott, said the student with no previous convictions had hoped to qualify in sports therapy and go to the USA to work. But the conviction for violence meant he would never get a job in the States.

Sinnott held onto his mother in the back row of the court before being taken away through the dock area.

Lungrin had a record for violent disorder, threatening behaviour and criminal damage.