A TEENAGER who attacked a man walking with a group of children was locked up for 12 months yesterday.

Christopher Mulholland, 20, of Darlington, rammed a broken broom shank into the face of Philip Wood, leaving him permanently scarred and unable to eat properly for six weeks.

Mullholland, who was 19 when the attack took place, was with a group of teenagers who shouted insults at Mr Wood, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Mr Wood, 33, and the children were walking from a family barbecue to Rise Carr, in Darlington, when they passed a group of teenagers sitting on a cemetery wall.

One youth shouted abuse, one threw a golf ball at him and another hurled a concrete breezeblock, Graham Gaston, prosecuting, told the court.

Two other youths picked up broken pieces of a broom shank, and as Mr Wood walked quickly away he felt a blow to the right side of his face.

He turned and Mullholland hit him at least four more times around the head, leaving Mr Wood needing six stitches to the right side of his face.

The wound left a permanent scar on Mr Wood's face, Mr Gaston told the court.

Mullholland, of Darrowby Drive, Darlington, was sentenced to 12 months detention in youth custody after he admitted a charge of unlawful wounding.

The court heard that he had previous convictions for violent disorder and criminal damage, and had breached a court supervision order imposed on him for a previous assault.

Mullholland's father, Peter, a self-employed shopfitter who gave him a job six months ago, told the court that his son was no longer a problem.