A TEENAGE tearaway has been spared jail after he struck his mother on the head with an ornament.

Paul Harvey, who has been subject to various Asbo orders for anti-social behaviour, threw the glass object at his sister, with whom he had argued, but his mother got in the way.

She was left with blood pouring from her forehead and required hospital treatment to stitch up the wound caused.

Harvey, 18, of Parliament Road, Middlesbrough, admitted unlawful wounding on April 25 this year and also breaching a community order he had previously been given.

Teesside Crown Court heard how he had received his first conviction aged just 13 and had 20 criminal offences to date on his record.

Duncan McReddie, mitigating, said: “It was reckless, but there was no intention to harm his mother. He would seek to apologise to his mother and the court.”

Harvey had completed a number of hours of unpaid work and Mr McReddie said further supervision in the community would help him mature and grow up.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, said Harvey was a young man with a very quick temper.

The judge suspended a six month jail sentence on the defendant for 18 months and ordered him to do a further 120 hours unpaid work. He also said he would serve a three month long curfew.