Armed robber, 16, owed pounds 500 for cannabis.

A 16-YEAR-old Merseyside boy carried out a string of frightening armed robberies after running up a pounds 500 cannabis debt, a court heard yesterday.

Stavross Hamza was arrested after the first incident, during which he threatened a man with an imitation handgun, but was released on bail.

Over the next five months he carried out three more robberies and an attempted robbery, another one with a gun and two with a knife.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the teenage victim of one of the knifepoint robberies, who was forced to hand over his mountain bike, later told police: ``I thought my life was in danger. I thought I was going to be stabbed.''

Hamza made off on the victim's bicycle, leaving his own bike behind which the victim took to the police.

Sentencing Hamza, of Marmion Road, Aigburth, to four years detention, Judge John Roberts said he had to impose a lengthy sentence to deter him and others from committing such offences which are becoming ``more and more prevalent.''

Ian Davies, prosecuting, said Hamza, who was sometimes accompanied by another youth, targeted mainly teenage boys in the Allerton area, although one took place in Waterloo.

That robbery took place on December 4 last year and involved Hamza producing a ball bearing gun and ordering a 13-year-old boy to hand over his money and mobile phone.

He was arrested on January 28 but released to enable identification parades to take place. He was rearrested in June and has been in custody since.

Hamza pleaded guilty to three robberies, two attempted robberies and two offences of possessing an imitation firearm.

Trevor Parry Jones, defending, said Hamza had run up a pounds 500 cannabis debt and was terrified of the people he owed the money to.