A MAN who spent a large part of a £150,000 compensation payout on cocaine was told by a court yesterday to expect a prison sentence after making a string of threats against a couple he claimed owed him money for drugs.

Gary Jonathan Buck pleaded guilty to two charges of harassment causing fear of violence, but had one of making a threat to kill dropped when he appeared at Harrogate Magistrates' Court.

Peter Scott, prosecuting, said Buck, 26, made threats both in person and by telephone against another man and his girlfriend over a period of a month.

His victim admitted he had had been hooked on cocaine he bought from Buck but had later managed to kick his habit and clear his drug debts.

However, Buck continued to demand £500 and made threats when he was told he was not going to be paid.

Mitigating, Geoffrey Rogers said Buck, of Eleanor Drive, Harrogate, sustained serious head injuries in a road accident in 1996 which left him psychologically damaged and appeared to have triggered criminal behaviour, despite a compensation payment of £150,000.

After reading a transcript of messages left on his victims' answering machine, Judge John Foster remanded Buck on bail for sentence at York Crown Court on January 20.