A 17-YEAR-OLD girl made a prank call after drinking an "inordinate" amount out of cider, a court heard yesterday.

The girl told police she had drunk seven litres, but chairman of the bench at Darlington Youth Court, Leslie Abbot, replied: "Seven litres of cider and you would be dead."

The court heard the girl, who cannot be named but is from Stockton, phoned 999 from the North Road area of Darlington, at 1.05am, on Monday, August 6.

She told operators she had been threatened by another female with a knife.

Rachel Masters, prosecuting, said when police arrived, she was waving and laughing, and told them: "I was only joking."

She was arrested for sending false messages and admitted the offence during police interview.

The girl, a persistent young offender, said she had been encouraged by friends.

Andrew Clinton, mitigating, said his client had drunk an "inordinate amount of cider at the time she made the call".

After Mr Abbot questioned the amount, the girl replied: "I was only drinking cider."

A pre-sentence review was ordered for Friday, August 24, after the girl pleaded guilty to making false messages.

"Even the conservative estimate, that's a heck of a lot of cider," Mr Abbot said.