A MAN who was prevented from entering a shop for being too intoxicated returned to threaten staff with a brick, a court heard.

Simon James Dawbney, 40, appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to one count of using threatening and abusive behaviour with intent to cause fear of unlawful violence.

Ansab Shan, prosecuting, said the defendant had tried to enter a shop in Murton on October 21 but was turned away for being too intoxicated.

He later returned and entered the shop with a can of lager in one hand and a brick in the other.

In a statement read out during the hearing, a member of shop staff said she was "terrified" and no longer wanted to be in the shop on her own.

Dawbney's solicitor, Jaxon Taylor, said his client was struggling with alcohol which was at the root of his offending.

Dawbney, of Warren Street, Horden, was ordered to pay £75 compensation to the victim and must carry out 20 rehabilitation activity days with the National Probation Service.