A TEENAGER blackmailed and robbed a 67-year-old man because he needed to pay off a drugs debt, a court was told.

Darren Gibson, 17, approached the elderly man at his home in Darlington and offered his services as a gardener, charging him £1,000.

Gibson then continued to visit the man at his home, demanding more money and threatening to have him beaten up, a youth court sitting at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court was told on Monday (October 27).

On one occasion, Gibson appeared in the victim’s garden and pushed him to the ground, took his wallet and slapped him across the face.

Nicki Forster, prosecuting, said: “On September 28 he returned to the property, entered the back garden and told the victim he wanted £500, the victim said no, Mr Gibson then put his arms around his shoulders and pushed him to the ground, knocking his glasses off.

“He then put his hands into the man’s pocket and took out his wallet, removing £130 and slapped him across his face making him feel humiliated and totally degraded.”

The victim said in a statement: “My life has changed since the incident. I have suffered a loss of safety and now worry if I hear a noise at night. I have been made to feel bullied, intimidated and humiliated through an unprovoked attack.”

Gibson, of Shakespeare Road, Darlington, can be named after magistrates lifted reporting restrictions that give anonymity to under 18s.

He was also charged with three counts of theft, as well as robbery and blackmail.

On three separate occasions, Gibson asked to borrow a mobile phone and then ran off with it, making no attempts to return them or pay for them.

Alan Green, mitigating, said he was unable to give any justification for Gibson’s actions, but said that he had got himself into £1,500 of drugs debt and feared for his and his family’s safety.

Gibson added: “I am very, very sorry for what I have done, I don’t know what I was thinking. I had been using cocaine and cannabis and mixing with the wrong people.”

He was sentenced to a 24-month youth rehabilitation order, ordered to pay £530 compensation to his victims and will wear an electronic tag restricting him to his home between 7pm and 6am.

Norma McDonald, chairwoman of the bench, said: “Make no mistake that if you breach this order in any way, you will go to prison. Remember that the alternative is custody.”