TWO cocaine-fuelled thugs who carried out knifepoint attack have been jailed.

Craig Higgins, 22, and Richard Guy, 21, were jailed for three years yesterday, after they kidnapped and robbed Clive Sparton and forced him to divulge his bank card pin number.

After sentencing, Clive Sparton snr, the victim’s father, described the justice system as a joke. He said: “They could be out within a year-and-a-half. I have no words.

“Clive didn’t take it well. This is the way justice is, but to me it’s not even justice.”

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Mr Sparton, 22, was accosted on the way home from Braintree Freeport, and frogmarched to a petrol station at knifepoint on November 21 last year. Higgins and Guy took his debit card, beat him up and told him if the pin number was wrong he would be stabbed.

Higgins, of Snowdrop Close, and Guy, of Yare Avenue, both Witham, denied robbery, kidnapping, fraud and assault causing actual bodily harm, but were convicted in July.

Jailing the pair, Judge Christopher Ball QC told them: “The two of you saw the opportunity to use strong-arm tactics against a weak and vulnerable young man.

“The two of you were taking drugs on that night.

“When people take drugs, particularly cocaine, it affects the way they behave.

“The two of you were trying to get as much money out of him as you could by bullying him and cajoling him to feed your habit.”

Mr Sparton Snr said his family are aiming to move away and rebuild their lives.