Teenager told his mum he would burn down house

A TEENAGER pulled the wallpaper off his bedroom walls and told his mother he was going to use it to burn down the house.

When confronted by his mother, Lewis Rhys Jones, 18, told her: “I want you to die, you **** .”

He then smashed a glass door pane, a wooden internal door, picture frame and bed. Lewis, of Goytre Crescent, Goytre, pleaded guilty at Swansea Magistrates’ Court to destroying or damaging property.

Sharon Anderson, prosecuting, told the court: “His mother is identified as a high-risk victim of repeat incidents.” She said the defendant and she lived at the same address with her partner and two other children.

“He and she were the only people in the house at the time of the incident.

“She went into the bedroom and saw on the floor the wallpaper had been pulled off the walls and piled in the middle of the room. It was not unusual for him to cause damage. He said he had been up all night taking the wallpaper down to start a fire.”

The confrontation led Lewis to smashing up the other items in the house, and he also told his mother “I will stab that bald p **** to death”, in reference to her partner.

Mitigating, Rhys Davies said Lewis’ mother had concerns that her son was using drugs, specifically cannabis, and added he “had not troubled the criminal justice system”. He added: “He is a young boy and his mother is in full support of him.”

Sentencing, district judge David Parsons said: “There is a real prospect you might be sentenced to custody.” Lewis was remanded in custody for 14 days for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. He will appear again in court on June 5.