A HEROIN addict offered a man sex for £30 - and then robbed him at knifepoint after he withdrew the money from a cashpoint machine.

Mother-of-two Donna Penrose, 20, set the sex trap in Parliament Street in the heart of York city centre, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Just after midnight, she went up to a man who had been drinking and had fallen asleep on a bench, said Richard Wright, prosecuting.

"She offered him sex for £30 and he accepted and went to a cash machine to withdraw the money from a cash machine," he said.

The pair then walked towards the market place where she demanded money, backing up her threat by producing a knife. She ran off with the money and the man, shaken by the incident, reported it to the police.

Penrose, of Etty Avenue, Tang Hall, was caught the following night when she was spotted by the man.

Sam Green said in mitigation that three letters written by Penrose' mother, grandmother and cousin had all come to the same conclusion: "Outside of her pernicious heroin addiction, Donna Penrose is a decent and upstanding young lady."

He said her previous convictions involved dishonesty, and such a crime of violence was outside her normal character.

Her family was caring and supportive in helping her "beat her demons," and she was now completely clean since being remanded in custody last year, not even taking methadone. He said her decision to plead guilty to robbery and possession of an offensive weapon had saved her victim from the humiliation of having to come to court.

Sentencing Penrose to 21 months detention, Judge Shaun Spencer QC said it was a lesser sentence than he had originally suggested he might impose. The reduction was partly because she had two children who were missing her and partly because he was impressed by her efforts to come off drugs.