A 22-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for assaulting and robbing three teenagers in the skate area at Stratford Park, Stroud a court heard.

After his arrest, Luke Martin urinated in his police cell and wrote 'These four walls may hold me but the system can't control me," on the walls.

Police who searched his home found a bag full of shotgun cartridges and some cannabis, said prosecutor Lisa Hennessy.

Martin, of Mathews Way, Paganhill, Stroud, admitted robbing one youth of tobacco and cigarette papers, another of £30 in cash and a third of £10 all on August 1 this year.

He also admitted possessing 32 shotgun cartridges illegally within five years of serving a custodial sentence, possessing cannabis and damaging his cell.

Martin was jailed for 27 months.

Ms Hennessy said the three victims were in the skate park area at 4pm when Martin told one youth that he had 'the sort of nose I would like to punch.'

He made the boy and his friend hand over what was in their pockets and then returned a few moments later and grabbed another youth, a 17-year-old sixth-former, by the back of the neck. Martin ordering him to hand over £30 which he knew he had in his back pocket.

The boy was loathe to comply but Martin then punched him at the top of his nose, causing blood to run down his face.

Nicola Berryman, for the defence, said her client was 'an angry young man.'

She said he was pleasant and thoughtful when sober but drink and amphetamines 'have an explosive effect on his personality.'

Since his arrest he had been contrite and had not sought to excuse his behaviour, she added.

"He has no recollection of these robberies, He was that out of his head that he really does not recall what triggered him to do this," she added.