A MAN who breached his anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) by abusing firefighters called to an incident at his home was jailed yesterday.

Gary Raisbeck was sentenced to eight weeks in prison for threatening officers as they attempted to extinguish an unsupervised fire outside his home.

The 39-year-old, from Ullswater Close, Spennymoor, confronted two officers and asked to see their faces so he "knew who to get later" and said "you will be the next ones on fire".

Magistrates sitting at Newton Aycliffe heard one of the officers subjected to the abuse had been part of a crew that saved Raisbeck's family from an arson attack at their home in 1998.

Ciaron Grogan, prosecuting, said the crew were called out on March 22 to extinguish copper cable that another man was burning in a metal drum outside Raisbeck's home.

He said: "Gary Raisbeck came out of the house and went up close to the fire officer, right into his visor, saying 'who are you? I want to look at your face so I know who to get later'.

"He approached another fire officer and got very close to him, saying 'I want to see your face' and when asked why, he replied 'You will be the next ones on fire'."

The offence occurred only two months after Raisbeck was made the subject of an Asbo, which specifically prohibited him from harassing, threatening or abusing any person.

Police were called to the scene, at which Raisbeck's manner changed and he said he had not meant to appear threatening.

Ben Haigh, in mitigation, said: "Mr Raisbeck does have mental health problems and anger control issues because of a brain injury from an assault some years ago.

"His family have problems themselves within the community, and have considered packing up and moving from the area all together."

Magistrates told Raisbeck he was given credit for pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.

However, they added that custody was necessary because the offence was so soon after the Asbo was imposed, and because it was directed towards the emergency services.