A TEENAGER has been bound over to keep the peace after a charge of breaching an interim anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) was dropped.

Teesside Youth Court was told how the 16-year-old, from Thornaby, near Stockton, argued with his mother at their home, shouting and swearing in their garden and in the street just hours after the interim Asbo was made.

The court heard it was a family row that spilled into the road and was overheard by a neighbour.

The youth, who can not be named, was originally charged with breaching the order, imposed on July 17, because he is banned from using abusive language anywhere in the Stockton borough.

But the charge was withdrawn at Teesside Youth Court yesterday and the youth agreed to be bound over for £50 over a period of six months.

In mitigation, David Dedman said: "He accepts that his behaviour is not as it should have been.

"It would be a shame if his first conviction was for such a minor thing."

His mother told the court that he had calmed down since appearing in court previously, was living at home and respecting the restrictions of the interim order which also bans him from being abusive and from entering Thorntree Road and Lanehouse Road.

The youth is also banned from going to Bells Store and the Robert Atkinson Centre, both in Thorntree Road.

Stockton Borough Council is in the process of applying to have an Asbo imposed after complaints from police, residents and traders about his abusive and intimidating behaviour in the past.

At a hearing yesterday, the proceedings were adjourned by magistrates until August 28.

The interim order was extended.