A would-be soldier was arrested for failing to turn up to court to answer a robbery charge – as he set off for a recruiting office in Salisbury.

The 15-year-old from Trowbridge, who cannot be named because he is under-18, was put before Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court after he was picked up on the warrant. He pleaded guilty to robbery.

Prosecutor Serena Edwards said the boy was with his friend in Westbury town centre on September 20 last year when they stopped a 16-year-old boy near the railway station.

The pair had initially gone past the victim, one on foot and the other on a push bike. They stopped, turned and headed back towards the boy.

Afraid of the two young men, the boy quickened his pace. They caught up with him and, within arm’s reach of him, asked where he was going and where he was from. When he replied that he was from Trowbridge they asked what area.

One of the boys asked their victim to give him his Apple Ear Pods wireless headphones, which he did.

The boy on the bike told the victim: “Give him your watch.” The other backed up the demand, saying: “Give me your watch or I’ll chef you.” He grabbed at his own trouser leg as he used the slang term and the victim took it to be a threat to stab him unless he handed over the Tommy Hilfiger watch.

The boys left and their victim ran off to a nearby gym, where he reported the robbery. Police scoured CCTV from the train station, with a PCSO able to identify one of the youngsters from the footage.

In a victim statement read to the court, the boys’ victim said the robbery had left him feeling lost and shocked that it had happened to him in broad daylight. “They didn’t seem to care,” he said.

Alun Morgan, defending, said his client had never previously been in trouble. He fully accepted he had been with his friend, who was the one who had taken the headphones and watch, but could not recall the “chef” comment. “He fully accepts that he could have walked away from the situation when he knew what was happening or he could have said that’s enough, stop this, we need to leave.”

The boy had failed to turn up for a youth court hearing earlier this year as he was anxious about what might happen.

He had dreams of joining the armed forces and had been on his way to obtain advice at the careers office in Salisbury on Tuesday morning when he was arrested.

The defendant told the court: “To start can I just say I’m very, very sorry. In my position now if I could have changed what I did I would have turned to my co-defendant and said let’s just go home and enjoy the rest of the day.”

Asked by District Judge Tim Pattinson what he would say if his friend accused him of being a wimp, the boy replied: “I would have said it’s not about being a wimp or being the coolest kid on the street. I wouldn’t have let it happen now I know the consequences and what it’s done to the victim and how it’s made him feel. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

Appearing before the court via video link from Melksham police station, the 15-year-old Trowbridge boy pleaded guilty to robbery.

District Judge Pattinson sentenced him to a 10 month youth referral order and ordered he pay £50 compensation. “It goes without saying if there’s anything further don’t expect such a lenient sentence.”

The boy’s co-defendant was sentenced separately to a youth rehabilitation order.