A NEWPORT man appeared at Caerphilly Magistrates Court yesterday after being arrested on a warrant.

Nathaniel Poole, 20, of Commercial Street, pleaded guilty to using threatening or abusive behaviour on March 24 in Newport and to using threatening or abusive behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress in Newport on May 13.

The court heard that Poole raised a walking stick to a man he had had an argument with earlier and waved it towards him.

Poole said the man had threatened him with violence earlier in the day and so he went back into the community with a walking stick but did not use it in a violent way –it was simply there as a threatening mechanism.

Chris Rose, prosecuting, said the second offence, on May 13, relates to Poole standing in front of a police community support officer, who feared they were going to be head-butted.

Magistrates gave Poole a 12-month community order which included 40 hours of unpaid work and ordered that he pay £85 towards prosecution costs.

They also ordered the forfeiture of the walking stick.