A YOUTH with almost 30 offences to his name has been told he has one last chance before being sent into detention.

The 17-year-old appeared for sentence at Newton Aycliffe Youth Court today (Monday, April 14) after earlier pleading guilty to nine offences.

These included criminal damage, drunk and disorderly, possessing a Class B drug, resisting a police officer, two burglaries and theft from a vehicle.

He also asked that the court take a further 20 offences into consideration.

The crimes took place in Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor, Bishop Auckland, Stanley and Darlington from June 2013 up to March this year.

Prosecutor Blair Martin said that one of the burglaries involved an adult accomplice whereby the pair stole a £300 laptop from Greenfield College, Newton Aycliffe, in June.

Another burglary involved stealing a chainsaw and a car key from a garage in Bishop Auckland in October.

The court heard that one criminal damage charge was brought in January after the youth destroyed the boiler in a County Durham property he had moved into less than two-weeks earlier.

In March, he damaged a television, bathroom wall, kitchen cupboard and other soft furnishings in a Spennymoor home.

Mitigating, Laura Moorby said the teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons – was taking steps to cut down his drug and alcohol misuse which she described as “the two main factors” in his offending.

She added that he had moved back in with his mother and was keeping away from people who had a negative influence on him.

Magistrates revoked his original order and re-sentenced him to a 12-month youth rehabilitation order with a 24-hour per week surveillance requirement for three months, plus a three month curfew.

Presiding magistrate Sue Hannan told him it was his “absolute last chance” before being locked up.