A MAN who cruised the streets of York looking for people to rob - and then made off with a 14-year-old boy's mobile phone - did not get a day too long behind bars, judges ruled.

Simon Turner, of Barstow Avenue, York, was convicted of robbery and given a four-year jail term at York Crown Court on August 1, 2002.

Yesterday, a legal team acting for Turner, now 21, described his sentences as "manifestly excessive" and urged three Court of Appeal judges to cut it.

But Mr Justice Mitchell, sitting with Lord Justice Rix and Sir Ian Kennedy, continued the legal crackdown on mobile phone muggers signalled recently by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf.

Refusing to cut Turner's sentence, Mr Justice Mitchell said: "This is not a case, as one frequently finds, where the victim and the perpetrator are of much the same age.

"Turner was cruising the streets of York in search of a young victim. There is also an element of persistence about this offence.

"This sentence is neither wrong in principal nor manifestly excessive, and the appeal is dismissed."

The judge told the court that Turner, who has a lengthy criminal record, but no previous convictions for robbery, took to the streets of York with an accomplice on February 13, 2002.

Their 14-year-old victim was cycling down the road when they pulled up alongside him in a car with Turner at the wheel.

His accomplice told the boy the bike was his, and when the youngster pedalled off to a nearby supermarket the criminal duo followed him.

Mr Justice Mitchell said the boy had the "presence of mind" to go into the supermarket, but was accosted by Turner's accomplice who demanded £20.

The teenager was threatened with a "smack" if he didn't comply, and the accomplice took a mobile phone out of the victim's pocket and began to use it.

At this point Turner entered the store, saw the phone and said "That will do", before making off with his accomplice - who has never been brought to book. Turner was later picked out at an ID parade.

Updated: 09:50 Friday, March 14, 2003