A man who robbed a pub customer of his fruit machine windfall has been sent to prison for 16 months, writes Phil Clee.

Liam Brady, 22, of Mason Road, Wood Farm, Oxford, grabbed the man after hearing of his good fortune in the Hobgoblin pub in Cowley Road on April 22.

Anthony McGeorge, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court that Brady grabbed his victim by his shirt and pulled him around a corner.

He then raised his fist, saying: "I don't want to hurt you. Just hand over your money." Police were called and when interviewed, Brady told them he needed the cash to support a 40 a day heroin habit.

Paul Mitchell, defending, said the offence had been a "spontaneous and spur of the moment decision".

He said that where robbery was concerned, the offence fell "very near the bottom level of seriousness".

But in sentencing him, Judge David Morton Jack, told Brady, who had previous convictions: "It is absolutely cardinal that people should be free to walk the streets without being robbed."