A teenager told a court how he was robbed at knife-point and repeatedly kicked as he walked along a Southend road.

The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, gave evidence at the trial of a 13-year-old Hackney schoolboy who is accused of robbing him on February 14 this year.

The alleged victim told Basildon Crown Court he spotted the defendant and another one of his attackers sitting near him as he took a train from Basildon to Southend at around 1.05pm to meet a friend.

He said he was followed out of the station by the two boys and, as they walked along Bellevue Avenue, the defendant's accomplice asked him for a cigarette. On handing him a cigarette, the boy then asked him about a gold ring he was wearing before punching him in the face.

It was at this point that he claims two other youths, whom he had seen walking towards him moments before, ran up behind him.

One of the robbers then put a knife to his throat. The alleged victim's hooded top was pulled over his eyes before he was thrown to the ground and repeatedly kicked about the head and the body by the four thugs.

After the incident the alleged victim, who suffered cuts and bruising to his body as well as lumps and swelling to his head, saw two boys flee towards the station but had no idea where the others ran.

On cross-examination, the alleged victim denied making up the presence of the second two boys and the knife, but he admitted being surprised to learn the defendant was only 13, when he guessed his age as being between 15 and 17 and that he was only 5ft tall and not 5ft 9ins, as he had believed. The trial continues.