A COUPLE have told how they came face-to-face with a teenager who smashed their front door in, leaving their young family terrified.

Damian Pearson was at home in Chester-le-Street when the 14-year-old began kicking at the door.

He broke the lock and handle, smashed a panel, booting the door with such force it banged off the wall, almost hitting one of the girls.

The incident had a profound effect on JoJo, 11, and Bettie, seven, as well as their cousin, Annie, who was five.

But the young man was caught by police and later met with the couple to apologise for his actions.

Claire Atack, 44, who works as a project manager, said: “It had a big effect on us because the girls were in the house. What we wanted from the meeting was to be able to tell the children we had met this guy, that he had said ‘sorry’ and he was not going to do it again.

“We wanted to tell him there was quite a financial cost to us to get everything fixed.

“We wanted to encourage him to get on the right path. We told him we understood, that we were young once, but that night he had gone too far.”

The incident happened in October and the meeting, in November, was arranged through the Durham Constabulary’s Restorative Justice programme.

Mr Pearson, 48, a graphic designer, said: “They said the lad was at a tipping point of going down the wrong path and Restorative Justice was the best route to go down.

“It was also helpful to be able to tell our children that there are ramifications for your actions so that was quite an important lesson for our kids.”

Ms Atack added: “We also wanted to show them that you have to stand up for yourself.

“There are not many opportunities where you get to sit down with someone who has done something to you and say ‘how dare you do that?’

“It was in a controlled environment where we felt safe.”

The Durham Restorative Hub has recently been awarded the Restorative Service Quality Mark by the Restorative Justice Council.

The Quality Mark recognises the hard work undertaken by organisations offering a restorative service, and indicates that they follow safe, high quality practice.

Police Crime and Victim’s Commissioner Ron Hogg said: “It is about bringing together victims and offenders to get an understanding of what has happened in a crime.

“The team here has won a national award for their excellent work.

“It is about bring together victims and offenders an offenders in our community for a satisfactory outcome.

“The team has done tremendously well and we are so proud of them.”

On Monday, the award was presented to the team by Chief Constable Mike Barton.

He said: “This is a really tough accolade to achieve and it means that the public can have absolute confidence when that the people involved in Restorative Justice are truly professional and they are going to get a great service.”

The event was attended by Judge Christopher Prince, the Honorary Judicial Recorder of Durham.

He said: “I have to congratulate Durham Constabulary. They lead nationally on Restorative Justice and anything that reduces the harm suffered by victims of crime must be welcomed.”