A MAN threatened to pour a pan of boiling water over his stepfather, a court heard yesterday.

The case against Peter Charles Hutchinson, 40, was adjourned for pre-sentence reports.

Hutchinson,who used to live with his mother and stepfather in Middlestone Moor, near Spennymoor, was told he could face a prison term.

Appearing via video link before magistrates in Newton Aycliffe yesterday, Hutchinson admitted a charge of affray.

Harri Jandoo, prosecuting, said Hutchinson returned home on August 7 and went to the bedroom of his mother, Shirley Hutchinson, 63, where an altercation took place.

Hutchinson then threatened his stepfather, Malcolm Hutchinson, 60, who had been asleep in a different room with his seven-year-old grandson.

"The defendant grabbed him by the face and pushed him around," Mr Jandoo said.

"He then said to his (step) father 'There's a pan of boiling water that I am intending to throw over you'."

The police were called after Hutchinson's stepfather managed to escape to a neighbour's house. Police had to climb into the house through a window because the front and back door keys had been snapped.

Robert Willowby, for Hutchinson, said his client suffered problems, including depression, and would be seeing the prison's psychiatrist today.

Chairman of the magistrates' bench Duncan Callum adjourned proceedings until September 7 and Hutchinson was remanded in custody.