A TEENAGER who set fire to an 82-year-old woman's hair to prove he wasn't "boring" has been warned he is facing a substantial prison sentence.

Phillip Lee Wooton set fire to Elizabeth Collins's hair on a train after a friend accused him of being boring.

When Mrs Collins asked Wooton why he had done it he told her: "Because, I felt like it."

Wooton, 18, of Rivermede, Fatfield in Washington, Tyne and Wear, pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm during an earlier magistrates' court hearing.

The case was transferred to Newcastle Crown Court where he was due to be sentenced yesterday.

But Judge Beatrice Bolton said the attack was horrific and ordered he be assessed by a psychiatrist to determine the risk he poses to the public.

Magistrates had heard how the attack happened as Wooton and a friend were travelling home to Sunderland on the Metro train on June 18.

Paul Anderson, prosecuting, told the earlier hearing: "He produced a cigarette lighter, approached the two ladies at the rear of the carriage and set fire to Mrs Collins' hair."

Shocked passengers rushed to the pensioner's aid and managed to put out the flames before any serious injuries occurred.

Mr Anderson said Mrs Collins was left terrified by the attack and is still too frightened to use the Metro.

Julian Smith, mitigating, said yesterday: "This was a bizarre offence and very, very worrying conduct indeed. This was a very very drunk young man."

Judge Bolton granted Wooton bail until he is sentenced in six weeks but imposed stringent new bail conditions which include reporting to a police station three times a week and a night-time curfew.