Two teenage girls have been given curfews and banned from Camden after a series of robberies in Hampstead and Swiss Cottage in March.

Having admitted four robberies, the duo, aged 16 and 17, were sentenced at Willesden Youth Court on May 12.

Both were given youth rehabilitation orders and a curfew for six months. They will be subject to supervision orders for two years and 18 months respectively.

The pair will not be able to enter Camden for a full year under the terms of their sentences – and they can't contact one another for the same period.

They carried out four robberies in the space of two hours on March 23. The first crime took place in Belsize Road near to Swiss Cottage Tube station, before three more offences were committed in Heath Street, Flask Walk and directly outside Hampstead Tube station.

In each incident, the pair targeted women in the street, punched and kicked them, and forced them to either hand over cash or go to a cash machine to do so. They pretended to be lost, before asking their victims to help them find a particular address on their phones and then assaulting them.

The victims of the second and third robberies were together outside of a shop in Heath Street when they saw another woman being attacked outside of Hampstead Tube station and called the police. Passers-by were able to intervene and stop the attack, but the girls were not apprehended.

A police investigation saw them tracked down to their homes in Barnet and arrested on April 20.

Det Sgt Alan Biggs, from the Met's Operation Venice team, said: “These two teenage girls systematically targeted women, threatening and attacking them in an effort to rob them. They planned their crimes to take advantage of the good nature of women who thought they were helping two lost teenage girls.

“I want to pay tribute to the victims in this case, particularly for the support that they showed for each other. I also want to commend the passers-by who intervened in these incidents for their brave actions.”