Teenager detained for robbery of Aitken girl

A teenager who robbed the daughter of the disgraced former Tory minister Jonathan Aitken was yesterday ordered to serve a 10-month detention and training order.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named, was among four boys who attacked Alexandra Aitken near her London home. The teenager, who at the time was subject to a community rehabilitation and punishment order for an offence of false imprisonment, had written a letter to his victim, apologising, Balham youth court was told.

Ms Aitken, 22, was walking near her home in Kennington, south London, in July this year, carrying a handbag and mobile telephone. "She was suddenly surrounded by a group of four males," Maryan Erfan, for the prosecution, said. One of them, not the defendant, tried to grab her handbag.

The defendant then snatched the mobile phone, Ms Erfan said. "He was followed by someone who had seen the whole incident. The witness spotted him hiding underneath a car. He tried to run away but was apprehended by members of the public chasing him." Ms Aitken's mobile phone was found shortly afterwards in a nearby garden.

The court was told at an earlier hearing that Ms Aitken made a statement to police in which she said she suddenly became "quite frightened and broke down in tears".

Stephen Sweeney, for the defence, told the court that the youth sought "to apologise to the victim". The district judge, John Perkins, said he took into account the teenager's guilty plea and that he had "shown some degree of remorse" but added: "I also have to take into account the effect of these kinds of offences on victims."