POLICE were called to a Darlington school after a 12-year-old boy bit and punched a member of staff, a court heard yesterday.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been removed from a classroom because of his bad behaviour, when he assaulted the staff member.

South Durham Youth Court, sitting in Darlington, heard that three members of staff were needed to restrain the boy, and police had to be called to the school on September 30 to deal with the problem.

The boy admitted assaulting a support worker in an incident which started when he was told to leave a classroom after he swore at a teacher.

Toby Thomas, prosecuting, said: "The teacher asked the support worker to remove the boy from the classroom.

"As he approached the defendant and asked him to leave the classroom, the defendant replied 'you can't touch me'."

The court heard the boy had run off after being removed from the classroom and hidden from the support worker.

The staff member found the boy and was escorting him back to the main school building, when he was assaulted by the child.

The boy bit his hand and once the support worker managed to remove his hand from the boy's mouth, the pupil punched him three times in the chest.

The court heard that the staff member managed to pull the boy to the ground and hold him there until two other staff members arrived to help restrain him.

Mr Thomas said: "A female staff member described the defendant as a problematic student and that his language towards staff was disgusting and upsetting."

Police were called to the school, and the court heard the youngster had told staff he was not afraid of the police.

When interviewed by police, the youngster admitted he had assaulted the staff member and used abusive language.

Peter Boddy, defending, said the boy had behavioural problems, attention deficit hyperactive disorder and epilepsy.

He said that when the boy returned to school, the first thing he did was to apologise to the member of staff he had assaulted.

Magistrates gave the boy a six-month referral order to a youth offending panel and his parents were ordered to pay £50 compensation to the victim.