A MAN sentenced to nine months in custody for a drunken mugging will only spend a few nights behind bars – because he has been on a curfew while on bail.

After a judge imposed the jail term on Jake Skilton it was revealed he had been on a 10-hour, night-time restriction since before Christmas.

As each day he wore the tag counts as half a day inside, the 20-year-old had almost completed the sentence before it was imposed.

Skilton, of Queens Drive, had denied a charge of robbery but was convicted following a trial at Swindon Crown Court in July.

David Scutt, prosecuting, said Skilton had approached the victim shortly after midnight on December 14 last year and asked him ‘if he had anything for him.’ He said he then demanded he hand over his wallet and iPhone and threatened to stab the victim.

Mr Scutt said: “When he was arrested he asked 'who grassed me up?’”

When he was questioned by officers he refused to answer any questions but he was picked out in an identity parade by the victim.

Tony Bignall, defending, said his client was still a young man and there was an element of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder “It was utterly impetuous, not planned,” he told the court.

“He and a friend emerged from a pub, saw what they thought was an opportunity, and took it.

“It is a mistake he very much regrets.”

He said he had worked as a roofer but had to stop because of an injury to a finger after a tile fell on it.

Now he has an offer of employment as a shop fitter in Lyneham and his girlfriend was pregnant with their first child.

Passing sentence, Judge Tim Mousley QC, said: “Back in July you were convicted after a trial of a single offence of robbery.

“It was a very serious offence because it was committed at night time, committed against a lone male.

“What makes it particularly serious is that there was a threat made to stab him.

“This is so serious that only an immediate sentence can be imposed.”

But after imposing a nine-month jail term he learned that Skilton had been on the tagged curfew while on bail, since December 20, meaning he has almost done the four-and-half months he must serve before early release from prison.