A SCHOOLBOY crush turned sour when a 22-year-old man caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to a property.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court heard yesterday that Nathan Adam Lawson was friends with the Darlington girl when they were younger.

"It's fair to say that he had a crush on this girl when they were children," said Toby Thomas, prosecuting.

"He had not seen her for a lot of years but had started to see her again in the past two years and he did not know how to deal with his feelings."

Mr Thomas said Lawson, who had drunk two litres of cider, smashed the girl's car windscreen and front room window with stones, on January 12.

When two men from the house confronted him, he bit one of them as they were trying to restrain him.

Jobless Lawson admitted two counts of criminal damages and one of assault from the same night.

"Mr Lawson does feel genuinely ashamed and, in his own words, bad about what happened," said Chris Bunting, mitigating.

"As a result of these proceedings, he has been asked to move out of the house he was sharing with his mother and his stepfather."

Lawson, of Stanhope Road, Darlington, was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also given a community order and made to pay £357 for the window, £125 for the damage to the car and £100 compensation to the man he bit.