IPSWICH: A teenager accused of holding a knife to a man’s throat during a late-night robbery has claimed he is the victim of mistaken identity.

Josh Mison, 18, told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court that he hadn’t been at Crane Hill on August 9 when 23-year-old Robert Garrard was allegedly robbed of his mobile phone and some loose change by three men.

Giving evidence, Mison said he had only been asked to remember where he was on the night of the alleged robbery after his arrest on September 19 and by then he could not remember his exact whereabouts.

However, he claimed he hadn’t been the person who held a knife to Mr Garrard’s neck and denied being responsible for injuries to Mr Garrard which were caused when Mr Garrard was allegedly knocked to the ground and kicked and punched.

Mison admitted being at the Job Centre in Ipswich on September 8, but denied approaching Mr Garrard and asking if he had been robbed in London Road.

Mison said while he was at the Job Centre he had a conversation with some of his friends who had been getting involved in robberies and said someone had mentioned a knife.

He denied making any threat to Mr Garrard or making a direct reference to a knife while he was at the Job Centre or Post Office that day.

Mison, 18, of Maude Street, Ipswich, has denied robbing Mr Garrard with others on August 9 and having a knife in a public place.

The court has heard that Mr Garrard was robbed by three men as he walked home along Crane Hill and suffered a fractured cheekbone, which needed surgery, after being punched and kicked.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdicts today.