THREE children should be compensated after their mother's boyfriend ran amok with a metal crowbar in their home.

The youngsters, aged between three and 13, screamed when drunken John Champley smashed windows and said he would kill their mother.

Champley, 37, an electrical installation engineer, has since settled his differences with the woman, Teesside Crown Court was told.

He smashed two windows in her Thornaby council house and was ordered to pay £500 compensation.

Judge John Walford said any cash left after she settled Stockton Borough Council's unknown extra repair bill should compensate the children for their March 25 ordeal.

The couple split up after a six- month relationship and Champley drank 12 bottles of lager before going to search for his ex-girlfriend.

He arrived at her home in Fir Grove, Thornaby, where the children were with two 15-year-old babysitters while she went to a shop. He smashed a window with a metal crowbar, said Ian West, prosecuting.

"The children were screaming and frightened, and one girl had a slight cut to her arm from flying glass.

"As he left one of the girls pleaded 'Don't hurt my mam'. He replied 'I'm going to kill her'."

Champley then turned up with the crowbar at the home of a friend of the woman but returned to Fir Grove, smashing a second window.

He later told police he wanted to "teach her a lesson", said Mr West.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said Champley acted out of frustration.

He added: "I am told that he was out with her last night, and he has made amends to the children for the distress."

Champley of Briar Road, Thornaby, was given a 15- month jail sentence suspended for two years, ordered to pay £500 compensation plus £500 costs after he admitted two charges of affray and criminal damage.