A TEENAGER who pelted firefighters with stones has been detained for 10 months for a catalogue of further crimes.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was with a group of youths who attacked the firefighters and swore at them as they tackled a fire in Shackleton Grove, Johnson Fold, at 3.15am on February 28 last year.

He was given a 12-month youth rehabilitation order and a three-month curfew last year. But yesterday at Bolton Youth Court he was sentenced to a 10-month detention and training order after he threatened to stab a neighbour and took someone’s van.

Anne-Marie Nicholls, prosecuting, said the teenager went to a neighbour’s home with a kitchen knife and an iron bar on December 14 before demanding to be taken somewhere in the victim’s car.

He threatened to stab the man, and at some point during the journey the boy was said to have driven the car.

On October 26 he went to the home of someone else he knew and took keys to a van. He damaged the van near Moss Bank Way after crashing into a fence.

He then returned the van and jogged home.

Mrs Nicholls said the defendant, who pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated vehicle taking and affray, appeared to have a fascination with motor vehicles.

Adam Whittaker, defending, said the teenager only had a knife because he had picked it up after finding it on a fence.

He said the teenager put the knife down upon request and gave the victim the bar, which was from a dumbbell.

He said the offences happened when the defendant had been drinking.

The teenager, who had been on remand since he was arrested for the offence in December, was not enjoying the prison experience because he was bored, the court heard.

Chairman of the bench Christine McGawley, sentencing, said: “You have brought misery to a lot of people, including your family.

“The only way this can stop is to give you a detention and training order. I hope this will teach you a lesson.”

He was also banned from driving for 12 months.