A PAIR of drug addict robbers have walked free from court after a judge heard their victim was planning to mug them.

The tale of a drugs deal where both sides planned to rob the other was revealed when Peter Lusty and Daniel Brown appeared before a judge.

Jordan Trinder had arranged to meet Brown, 22, and Lusty, 24, so he could buy £10 worth of cannabis from them.

But unknown to them, he planned to steal the drugs, rather than pay for them.

When they came face to face he became the victim, not the perpetrator, as the two men stole his mobile phone from him.

Trinder had asked friend Emma Edwards if she knew where he could buy some cannabis so she put him in contact with the defendants.

The three agreed to meet behind TK Maxx, in Gorse Hill, on Thursday, January 17 to do the deal – though secretly planning to rob each other.

When they met in Beatrice Street there was an exchange of words and shoving before Brown told his “customer” he had a knife and made a grab for his mobile phone.

And as Trinder tried to fight back, Lusty grabbed hold of him and pulled him away, allowing his accomplice to get away.

Brown, of Botley Copse, Peatmoor, and Lusty, of East Street, in the Railway Village, both admitted robbery.

Rob Ross, defending, said: “It is a pathetic little incident revolving around a small amount of drugs.

He said: “I am often asked about what an interesting job I have and I sometimes tell people that fact is often stranger than fiction.

“Some of the things I have seen over the years are laughable: if they were made up and put into a film people wouldn't believe them.

“Both of these men did something foolish but it is a rather odd situation.” After hearing Brown and Lusty had spent a couple of months in jail on remand Judge Douglas Field at Swindon Crown Court said they needed help to beat their addictions.

He said: “This was a sort of drug deal that went wrong.

“I am quite satisfied that it was your drug problems that led to this offending. “I am going to give you the opportunity to deal with your drug problems."

He imposed one-year jail terms suspended for 18 months with supervision and drug rehabilitation requirements. Lusty must also go on a thinking skills programme.

Edwards, 21, of Sheppard Street, was put on a nine-month community order after admitting being concerned in the supply of drugs.