Two teenage boys  were reassured by a judge that a robbery they had endured "was the exception rather than the rule" and he hoped what had happened would not put them off camping.

The youngsters, a sixth former and a college student, both 16 at the time of the incident last June, assured Judge Huw Rees at Caernarfon crown court that they would carry on camping.

"You had a terrible experience," remarked the judge, who had just jailed 29-year-old Thomas Bell of Ffordd Tynewydd, Prestatyn, for 14 months - a year for the robbery and two months for possessing a stolen credit card.

He pleaded guilty.

Karl Scholz, prosecuting, said the boys had been confronted by Bell as they walked home at 6am after camping on a mountainside at Meliden.

Bell claimed he had a knife - which was not the case - and after the boys were told to put their bags on the ground he threw the contents of one of them into the undergrowth.

He'd also demanded their mobile phones. 

One boy managed to phone his mother and after they dashed down to the road, followed by the defendant and another man, they got into her car and police arrived. 

An officer had to take Bell to the ground and handcuff him, but no knife was found.

Simon Killeen, defending, said just over three years ago Bell's mother, to whom he was very close, died "suddenly and tragically". 

Within six months he was convicted of drink driving, and he lost his wife, family and window cleaning business and alcohol took over his life. 

Telling the boys he had imposed a five-year restraining order which bans Bell from any contact with the lads, Judge Rees said: "He was homeless, had too much to drink and things had gone wrong in his life."