SENTENCING was adjourned on a 15-year-old who had admitted attempted robbery.

The youth, from Wiltshire, had been placed in care 12 months ago and had been placed at five various care homes, recently near Dolgellau.

Rhian Jones, prosecuting at Dolgellau Youth Court, said that the youth had tried to rob a person in Wrexham by demanding that the victim hand over a mobile phone, and threatened to stab the victim if he did not comply.

The victim refused to hand over his phone and was punched three times before managing to escape from the 15-year-old and an accomplice, who was a year older and placed at the same care home in Wrexham at the time.

Youth court magistrates at Wrexham deferred sentence to Dolgellau youth court for reports to be prepared.

On Thursday, magistrates heard that sentencing options were limited because courses were unavailable in rural areas.

Court chairman Peter Lunt Williams said that there were aspects of the pre-sentence report, prepared by Wiltshire Social Services, that the court needed clarification on.

“We would like to know why the defendant was moved so many times. We also want clarification on whether we could impose an ISS (Intensive Supervision and Surveillance) Order on the defendant. Without this information we have to adjourn sentence and demand that the defendant’s social worker, or a deputy who knows about the case, be present in court,” said the chairman.

Magistrates agreed to adjourn sentence to Caernarfon Youth Court on 3 August, and demanded that the defendant’s Wiltshire based social worker, or a deputy, be present in court.