A crown court judge apologised to a weeping mother as he locked up her son.

As he sentenced 18-year-old Adam Khalil to 30 months in a Young Offenders’ Institution on Friday (September 16), recorder Simon Mayo QC told the mugger’s mother he was sorry but added: “I feel I have no other option.”

Khalil was 16 and lived in Roland Road, Walthamstow, when he was involved in the mugging of three teenagers with an unidentified accomplice at dusk in Barrington Road, Loughton, on December 7, 2014.

However, two of the victims recognised him from Epping Forest College.

Now 18 and of Cecil Grove, St John's Wood, Khalil had denied three offences of robbery but was convicted after a trial last month at Chelmsford Crown Court.

As he sentenced him, recorder Mayo told Khalil: “These offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.”

And turning to Khalil's mother as she sat sobbing in the public gallery, the judge said: “This must be a very distressing episode you have to go through but I hope you understand why, in the discharge of my public duty, I feel I have no other option."

Khalil was with others in a pick-up truck which stopped when they saw the three youths walking.

He and another person from the pick-up approached them but Khalil was recognised by two of the victims even though he had tried to cover his face when he realised who they were.

He robbed one of them while his unknown accomplice robbed the other two.

The robbers both had knives and threatened their victims.

Property taken from the 14 and 16-year-olds included two Armani bags, a mobile phone, headphones, keys, £40 cash, aftershave, cigarettes and a provisional driving licence.

Khalil claimed in his defence that he was a “reluctant spectator” and didn't take part, have a knife or threaten anyone with it.

He said he lied to police because he was “scared of my mum finding out”.

The court heard that after the incident, Khalil's family moved from Walthamstow to get away from negative influences among his peer group.

He had started his own cleaning company, cooked for and took meals out to the homeless in his spare time, and was about to start studying with a chance to go to university.