A POISON-PEN letter writer who threatened to carry out a Dunblane-style massacre of children during a two-year hate campaign walked free from court yesterday.

Ian Julian Walker was mentally ill, Teesside Crown Court heard, when he called himself Soldier David and described children as the spawn of Satan.

The 46-year-old admitted a charge of causing a public nuisance over two years between December 1999 and October 2000 for his campaign against primary and secondary schools, shops and individuals in the Thornaby area, said David Lamb, prosecuting.

Mr Lamb said Walker had sent about 15 menacing letters and made several disturbing phone calls to schools and shops.

Walker, of Sherwood Road, Thornaby, told the court: "May I say how dreadfully sorry I am. Had I been well I would never have contemplated doing what I did. I was driven out of my mind."

Mr Lamb said Walker had threatened to murder shop workers in Teesside for selling fireworks and described children he thought were terrorising the streets of Thornaby as scumbags and the spawn of Satan.

He said: "Perhaps the most serious letter was sent to Thornaby Community School, to the headmaster."

Walker referred to the children as "things", stating 40 per cent were scum, another 40 per cent "rubbish".

The letter said he had observed the pupils of the school through a telescopic sight and went on: "My finger's resting on the trigger, all it takes is a decision to put a bullet into the skull of one of those things, or perhaps to beat one to death with a bat would be more satisfying."

Walker also targeted staff working for Asda and Bell's Stores, threatening to slash one shop worker's face.

Stephen Ashurst, for Walker, said his client had a 25-year history of mental illness and would never have written the letters if he had not been ill.

He said the campaign had begun with a grievance about the use of fireworks before Bonfire Night and their danger. Medication and counselling were combating Walker's problems, he said.

Judge George Moorhouse said the threats were "horrific" but it was clear Walker was "clearly ill at the time this situation was taking place".

He said a three-year community rehabilitation order, with a requirement to continue treatment for his problems, was the appropriate sentence.