'He had his hand to my throat'

Matthew Belcher initially refused to give his iPod to his muggers.

Student Matthew Belcher, 18, was mugged for his iPod last summer in Solihull.

He told the BBC News website about his experience.

I had just left my house - it was like, 3pm, I was going to go and play football. I was walking down a main road and had my iPod on.

After a couple of minutes, I heard someone stumble behind me. I turned around and there was a guy quite close.

I didn't think anything of it - I thought that there was just one guy. I carried on and just kind of thought that it was a bit weird.

Then I thought, 'that's stopped that' and carried on and not long afterwards at all... I had my headphones ripped out from behind me

I tried to get a bit of distance then after a while, realised he was a bit too close. Normally you'd overtake if you were that close and he just seemed to linger.

I crossed to the other side of the road - then I realised there were two guys. I looked around and they were just having a cigarette, the pair of them.

Then I thought, 'that's stopped that' and carried on and not long afterwards at all - just a few seconds - I had my headphones ripped out from behind me and I was pushed into a bush.

The guy I saw was quite small, but the second was bigger and he had his hand to my throat.

They said 'give it us' - referring to the iPod.

'Stand-off'

I said no - I was quite proud because I said it quite firmly. There was a stand-off for probably a couple of seconds - I think they were quite surprised - then they said 'give it us or we'll take everything and do you over'.

So I gave it to them and they said 'go back to where you came from and don't turn around'.

He asked if I was alright because he saw the guys running off and he saw me looking a bit gutted

Violent crime on rise

As soon as they said that I turned away and took two steps and turned around and saw them run. I took out my cell phone and called the police.

Then a guy pulled over and asked if I was okay - he was an off-duty police officer and I said 'no' and he told me to get in.

He asked if I was alright because he saw the guys running off and he saw me looking a bit gutted.

He got on his radio to the park response unit - a team on bikes.

So, I got in the car and we went chasing after them looking for them, going through the park and turning into the main road.

We met up with plain clothed police officers in a police van and I got into that and gave them the description again to other people.

They then gave out the description again on the police radio.

Caught 'red-handed'

While giving the description, we got a message from the cycle unit that they'd seen two guys and were apprehending them.

Basically, they were caught red-handed because they had my iPod on them and threw it into a bush.

They got off lightly - although they'd apparently done this kind of thing before

It was obviously my iPod because it had my brother's band on it and when they turned it on it said 'Matt's iPod'.

They got 200 hours of community service. They got off lightly - although they'd apparently done this kind of thing before.

One of them said they only did it because their mother had died three weeks before - so it was out of character.

I'm much more vigilant - always more aware of the street. Not so much when I'm with a group but when I'm on my own I'm always quite aware of different situations, no matter what time of day.

I always thought I was quite careful. Even when I had the iPod on I kept it under my clothes.

Now I'm not scared to run if anyone gets too close. If they chase after you it's going to look even more suspicious.