A drug addict has been jailed for five years for robbing three Bradford University students by holding a knife to the throat of one of them.

Matthew Judson pounced from behind as the teenagers approached an underpass shortly after 1pm on their way to Bradford Interchange, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

He seized Brendan Emerson, pointed a kitchen knife at him and threatened: “Give me everything you’ve got,” prosecutor Anthony Moore said.

Mr Emerson emptied his pockets and handed over his wallet containing £13 cash and a music player.

Judson, 25, then ordered fellow first-year students, Andrew Edwards and Christopher Myers, to hand over a wallet and phone. He fled the scene, telling the students not to follow or his mates would “get them”.

He was identified from CCTV images and arrested on October 27, the day after the robberies.

Judson pleaded guilty to three charges of robbery and an offence of possessing a knife.

He told police he sold his spoils for £100 and used the money to buy drugs.

Mr Moore said Judson, of Shelley Grove, Bullroyd, Bradford, had been before the courts 13 times before for a total of 27 offences – some similar to his latest crimes.

In 2004, he was locked up for 42 months for the attempted robbery at knifepoint of a male student.

Three years later, Judson was jailed for three years for two robberies and a theft from two boys, aged 16 and a teenager of 18, in Bradford city centre. He pulled a knife on one of the 16-year-olds while robbing him of his phone in Darley Street.

Jailing him, the judge, Recorder Simon Jackson QC, said Judson planned to rob the students and waited until they got to the subway before he struck.

Judson’s probation officer said he had little insight into his offending or how it impacted on others and he posed a risk to the public with his reckless and entrenched behaviour, he said.

In mitigation, Judson’s solicitor Phillip Ainge conceded that the victims suffered fear, shock and trauma but said none were physically injured.

Judson was a heroin addict whose life had been ravaged by drugs. He never intended to hurt anyone but used the knife to threaten and intimidate, Mr Ainge said.

“He is desperate to beat his addiction to drugs,” he added.

After the case, a Bradford South police spokesman said: “This significant sentence underlines the severity of the crimes committed by Judson and the dim view in which both the police and the courts have on robbery.

“We are committed to the safety of people in Bradford and today’s outcome has seen this man now removed from our streets.”