A MAN has admitted robbing and assaulting an old soldier at his rural home.

Robert Peter Emery, 41, is alleged to have taken £300 and a poker in the incident at the 82-year-old widower's house, in the Cornsay Colliery area of north-west Durham.

Emery and his 19-year-old son, Darren William, also admitted assaulting the man, causing him actual bodily harm, on May 18.

Darren William Emery and Beverly Kelly Rayner, 32, his father's partner, denied robbery, but Rayner admitted handling stolen goods.

They gave their pleas at a brief hearing yesterday at Durham Crown Court

Proceedings were adjourned to July, and all three, of Ashvale Caravan Park, Hartlepool, were remanded in custody by Judge John Walford.

The victim suffered a broken bone in the hand and minor facial injuries in the ordeal, which was said to have left him traumatised.