A JILTED man battered his ex-lover's son to death in revenge when she left him. a court was told yesterday.

Computer programmer Robert Green, 44, phoned estranged girlfriend Janice Stott with the threat: "You have taken something special away. Think what's precious to you."

An hour later, after attacking 18-year-old Mark Stott with a hammer, Mr Green rang her back and said: "It's sorted. I have killed him with a hammer," said prosecutor James Spencer QC.

Mr Spencer told a murder trial at Teesside Crown Court that Mr Green sneaked up on Mr Stott as he watched TV and hit him six times on the head.

Mother-of-two Mrs Stott had ended her six-year affair with Mr Green, and Mr Spencer said: "He decided to strike at her through her son, although they had always got on well."

The jury was told that Mrs Stott, 40, left Mr Green at their home on Teesside to work in Bromley, Kent. She returned to Cennon Grove, Ingleby Barwick, to tell him it was all over.

Two days later, Mr Green phoned her to make the threats and Mrs Stott rang her ex-husband, Stephen Stott, in Middlesbrough. He and Mark's brother, Lee, 28, found the victim in a pool of blood on the settee.

Simon Lawler, QC, defending, told the jury that Mr Green, who worked for British Airways at Newcastle, admitted killing Mr Stott on June 7 last year, but denied murder due to diminished responsibility.

The case continues