A MAN who put his stepson in hospital after taking £700 worth of cocaine has been given a six-month lifeline.

David Clarke, of Topcroft Close, in Middlesbrough, headbutted, punched and attempted to strangle his stepson, leaving him needing stitches at James Cook University Hospital for cuts to his nose and eyebrow.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield told Teesside Crown Court the 33-year-old had visited his then partner's home in August last year after he head been drinking and taking cocaine.

She had driven him away from the property, but he returned minutes later, smashing her car windscreen and damaging her window panes.

In the early hours of the following morning, he threw a sanding block at a property in Redcar where his stepsons were staying.

After one of them confronted Clarke about what he had done the previous evening, he put both hands to his throat and started punching and headbutting him.

Stephen Littlewood, mitigating, accepted it had been a sustained assault, but added it had been short and Clarke was "thoroughly ashamed".

Judge Stephen Ashurst deferred sentencing for six months, saying Clarke would avoid jail if he did not reoffend and took to steps to cure his drink and drug addiction.