TWO Hampshire men have been locked up for a combined ten years after they attacked the occupant of a flat.

James Cutting provided the muscle when Lee Hopkinson went to collect a £40 debt from a neighbour, who was out.

They then forced their way into the home of Tom Scales where Cutting took tobacco and a credit card, punched him in the face and threatened to break his legs if he didn’t divulge his PIN number.

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“It must have been a terrifying experience for him,”

remarked Judge Tom Longbotham.

When the debtor returned to his flat, the pair caught up with him and Cutting also punched him in the face.

Southampton Crown Court heard how Cutting went to a local shop but the owner refused to serve him because he was drunk. He pushed items over the floor, spat in her partner’s face and hurled mortar through a window of another man’s car. After being arrested, he broke free from police handcuffs but was caught shortly afterwards.

Said to have 12 previous convictions, Cutting, 21, of Manor Road, New Milton, admitted one charge of robbery, blackmail and obstructing police, two counts of dangerous driving and causing damage and three charges of common assault as well as a series of minor road traffic offences. The court heard that in one of the common assaults, he had spat at a nurse who had examined him.

He was jailed for five years and 11 months and banned from driving for four years with an order to take a re-test.

Hopkinson, 25, also of Manor Road, was convicted of robbery and blackmail and jailed for four years. He was of previous good character.