A drunken young troublemaker who has blighted his community with his anti-social behaviour appears to have spurned a judge’s chance to mend his ways.

Isaac Farmer is now subject of two arrest warrants, one issued by Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court, in late June, and the second, now at Durham Crown Court, in both cases following his failure to appear at scheduled hearings.

Farmer was challenged by a judge to “keep his nose clean” for six months when he appeared at the crown court in February, following his arrest for threatening a store worker, a dog walker and a householder while in possession of a knife and surgical scissors, in Eldon Lane, Bishop Auckland, on Saturday, June 18, last year.

The court was told he entered Eldon Lane Convenience Store, but was refused service as he was told he was barred, to which he reacted with a barrage of abuse and threats to the female assistant, saying he knew where she lived and he would beat up her boyfriend.

Read more: Judge tells defendant Eldon Lane is 'sick' of his behaviour

Farmer then went outside and asked a man walking his two dogs to go into the store on his behalf, but the pedestrian refused and, on seeing a large knife brandished by the defendant, went into the shop and locked himself in, until police arrived.

In the meantime, Farmer was seen outside the home of a woman who recognised him and heard him making threats to carry out a robbery at the shop, as he showed her a pair of surgical scissors he was carrying.

He told the woman that he recognised her as the proprietor of a local café and also made threats to her.

When police reached the village, Farmer was arrested and the two knives were recovered.

All three of the people confronted by him that day said it left them feeling anxious.

Farmer, now 24, of Johnson Street, Eldon Lane, admitted using threatening words and behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress, possessing a bladed article (the knife) and an offensive weapon (the surgical scissors), in public, when he appeared before magistrates in January.

Read more: Crook sex offender found guilty of 18 offences in May trial

The case was sent to the crown court for sentence in February when the hearing was told the source of the defendant’s offending was drink, and, on his own admission, he had drunk “bucket loads”, on the day of the offences.

But Judge Jo Kidd was told he had responded well to the conditions of a community order imposed for previous offences a month earlier.

She said she hoped that would continue and, so, deferred sentence for six months to see if Farmer could maintain his good progress.

The judge’s conditions to Farmer were to keep out of trouble, to stop harassing people in his community and to raise £210 to pay £70 to each of the victims of his drunken threats on the day of his offending.

Read next:

Get all the latest crime and court updates, for less than the price of a coffee, with a Premium Plus digital subscription to The Northern Echo. Click here

But when he did not appear at the court for the deferred sentencing hearing this week, it was confirmed that Farmer had also failed to attend a scheduled appearance before magistrates in Newton Aycliffe on June 29, to answer for two counts of assaulting an emergency worker, said to have been committed on June 6, this year.

The magistrates, therefore, issued a bench warrant for his arrest, as did Judge Kidd at the crown court.

Should Farmer be arrested he will be brought before the court to be sentenced for both the original offences and the failure to attend the respective crown and magistrates’ appearances.