TWO Pontypool men robbed a man while armed with a machete and half a house brick, a court heard.

Stephen Grimson, 20, of Crumlin Street, and Adam Waters, 24, of Brynwern, appeared in Cardiff Crown Court for sentencing having pleaded guilty, on the third day of their trial, to robbing Reuben Edwards.

Prosecutor MatthewCobbe said the incident happened in Griffin Street, Pontypool, on February 13 this year, when the two men pushed Mr Edwards to the ground and stole two rings.

Grimson was armed with the brick and Waters with the machete, but Mr Edwards was uninjured.

Mr Cobbe said the value of the rings is unknown, but one was sold for £200 by the defendants.

Representing Waters, Hugh Wallace said the pre-sentence reports indicated a lifestyle dominated by drugs, which hopefully prison would cure.

He said: “They were living on a day-to-day basis looking for drugs and looking for money to get drugs.”

Byron Broadstock, Grimson’s counsel, said the defendants were “flat out” on amphetamines, had not slept for several days and were not thinking straight. He said Grimson lived a “somewhat chaotic lifestyle compounded by drugs.”

Mr Recorder Paul Lewis QC said: “This was a joint offence and it’s an aggravating feature that you teamed up together and armed yourself in order to commit a street mugging.”

Both defendants were sentenced to two years, eight months, Waters in prison, and Grimson in a young offender institution, less time they spent on remand.