Wayne Fenwick 24

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AN immature offender who made racially-aggravated threats about a support worker in accommodation where he was living, admitted speaking before he thinks, a court heard.

The offensive remarks proved costly for Wayne Fenwick after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment and witness intimidation following a recent trial before magistrates.

Durham Crown Court heard it put the 22-year-old defendant in breach of a suspended prison sentence for the second time, having been told by a judge that all bets would be off, if he committed a further offence.

On his return to the court for sentence, Fenwick was told by Judge Ray Singh he had reached the end of the line after all the chances he had been given to keep out of trouble.

The judge imposed a total 16-month prison sentence on Fenwick.

Kate Barnes, prosecuting, said his latest offences took place on April 20, the day after his release from police custody following other allegations against him.

Miss Barnes said police were informed that he had threatened a staff member at the accommodation he was living at that time, while in drink.

Officers were shown to the room, where Fenwick made a racially aggravated remark about the staff member, who was originally from West Africa.

He threatened to stab the man, telling police he knew where he lived, and then made abusive remarks to the officers who had come to arrest him.

Miss Barnes said when interviewed later, Fenwick made mostly no comment replies, but did tell officers: I dont think before I speak.

The support worker about whom the threats were made told police he did not feel immediately at risk as he did not believe Fenwick did know where he lived.

Miss Barnes said Fenwick, most recently of Hutton Terrace, Willington, has six convictions for 15 offences on his record.

She said they include sex offences relating to an underage girl and two assaults on an emergency worker, for which he received a total 16-month sentence, suspended for two years, in May last year.

Christopher Bevan, for Fenwick, told the court: He realises the chances of not receiving a custodial sentence today are immensely thin.

He tells me, and my assessment of him will bear this out, that hes deeply immature and he accepts what he said and did was deeply unpleasant and offensive.

He further adds that he didnt mean to cause any physical harm but at the time he thought he was acting big and hard.

Mr Bevan said an updated probation offender managers report described him as, not dangerous in the sense of intending harm, but capable of risky behaviour.

Jailing him, Judge Singh told Fenwick: Im afraid you have now come to the end of the line as to the court allowing you further opportunities to show you can behave yourself.

You committed these further offences knowing what the ramifications would be.

You appear to have no respect for authority or fellow human beings.

The 16-month sentence imposed includes ten months from the suspended sentence, with six months added for the latest offences.