A FATHER who threatened to kill his schoolboy son was given a suspended prison sentence yesterday.

The 50-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted the offence when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court before the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox.

Sean Dodds, prosecuting, told the court how last April, the 11-year-old boy arrived at his Teesside home to be confronted by his father, who had been drinking cider.

The defendant asked his son if he had been bullied while he was out and, when the boy said he had not, he accused him of lying then produced an 8in knife and threatened to kill his son unless he told the truth.

He then cuffed him and held the knife to his neck while ordering the boy to hit the lad he believed had doing the bullying.

Richard Bennett, defending, said that the father had taken good care of him since since the boy's mother left home. He had also been anxious that his talented son should not go the way of an elder brother, said Mr Bennett.

Sentencing the man to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, Judge Fox told him it was a "dreadful thing'' for a father to threaten his son.