Karl Lowe, 26, from Back Hatfield Street, Wakefield, had befriended his 48-year-old victim in a pub on false pretences with the sole purpose of robbing him, Leeds Crown Court was told.

The court heard that on the evening of the 'pitiless' attack, Lowe and his partner had been drinking at the Raven pub in Wakefield, where they got into conversation with Paul Smith, a man with severe learning difficulties.

After the group shared several drinks, Mr Smith was invited back to Lowe's flat.

When Mr Smith tried to leave, the court heard, he was knocked to the floor, held face down and robbed of his wallet – which contained almost £400 – and a packet of cigarettes.

Lowe then threw a scared, vulnerable and penniless Mr Smith out onto the street. Prosecutor Khadim Al Hassan told the court that rather than a genuine new friendship being forged, a deliberate plot had been hatched to rob Mr Smith.

The victim was targeted specifically and cynically because of his vulnerability, the court heard.

Lowe was arrested in February this year and denied the charge of robbery. He initially claimed never to have met his victim but was caught out when Mr Smith described his assailant's flat in minute detail.

In a further interview, Lowe admitted having met Mr Smith but still denied robbing him on December 20 last year.

However he was found guilty following a trial earlier this month.

Sentencing Lowe to three years in jail, Judge Jennifer Kershaw QC said his victim was a vulnerable man whose disabilities would have been "perfectly apparent" to his attacker.

"This offence was pre-planned," she said. "It involved a very vulnerable victim who was targeted for his vulnerability. It made him a suitable target for dishonesty.

"You invited him back to your home in order to rob him, there can have been no other possible reason for it.

"In the end he was put out on the street to make his own way home penniless.

"Your conduct towards this man was pitiless."