AN HGV driver was given a suspended sentence after admitting to carrying a knuckle duster in Darlington town centre.

Jason Smith, of Rushpool Cottage, Hurworth Moor, also admitted breaking the window of a Darlington pub on September 9.

Sarah Traynor, prosecuting, said Smith, 44, had been drinking at the Greyhound Pub in Parkgate before going to Busters in Yarm Road.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court heard he was drunk, argumentative and aggressive and was ejected from the pub, at which point he punched a glass panel in the door.

Police discovered the metal knuckle duster in his pocket when they arrested him.

A probation officer told the court that Smith had been a heroin user but was clean thanks to treatment he had undergone at a private clinic.

He has no previous convictions and lives in a caravan in the garden of the house his parents live in and pays their mortgage.

Smith was given a four month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and will have to abide by a curfew between 7pm and 7am for the next 12 weeks on nights he is not working.

He will also have to do 120 hours of unpaid work in the community, pay £200 in compensation and he must not enter licensed premises for the next three months. He was given court costs of £345.