A DRUNK who launched into a rage at his key worker mother before telling her 'I really want to smash your face' has been handed a community penalty.

Jobless Curtis Halsey embarked on the savage tirade of abuse at the family home after drinking to excess and buying his booze with a Universal Credit payment.

The 22-year-old of Malvern Close, Didcot, appeared at Oxford Magistrates' Court today to admit two counts of criminal damage, one of common assault and a separate public order offence.

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Outlining the case prosecutor Peter Ryman said Halsey lives with his mother, who is a key worker working shifts with ambulances.

She had become concerned about her son's alcoholism ahead of the attack which took place on Tuesday.

On that day Halsey was described as 'very drunk' having been binging on alcohol since earlier that day.

He first called his mother 'lazy' before launching into a verbal tirade whereby he 'started shouting and swearing in a rage.'

Halsey went on to swing a child's gate open towards the woman before taking a box of cider upstairs which split, spilling its contents.

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It was then that he turned around and told his mother 'I really want to smash your face.'

The court heard that she felt 'petrified' by the outburst, having not been threatened by him before, and the shift worker said she had become 'tired of his behaviour.'

She had previously helped her son - who had split with his partner - overcome a drugs misuse problem, the court went on to hear.

He also admitted at the hearing a separate offence of causing criminal damage to a wing mirror of a vehicle in Didcot on March 10 and a public order offence in January in Stanford in the Vale.

In mitigation the court heard a National Probation Service report which revealed that Halsey accepted he was drunk at the time and had 'issues with temper when under the influence of alcohol.'

He also suffers from anxiety and his defence barrister John Berry said that his client was 'very sorry for his behaviour.'

He said his client wanted to 'make up for my behaviour.'

Sentencing, District Judge Kamlesh Rana said: "This is her house, this is where she is entitled to feel safe.

"She has put a roof over your head and she works to do so and you have the gall and the outrage to behave in this way towards her.

"You are one step away from a custodial sentence."

He was made subject to a community order for 15 months to include 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Halsey must also complete an alcohol treatment requirement for nine months and was made subject to a two-year restraining order.

Compensation totalling £460 was also ordered at the hearing.