A PERSISTENT drinker who made scores of hoax 999 ambulance calls will stay behind bars for now.

John Newman, 35, was given the first anti-social behaviour order in County Durham last month because of behaviour which has seen him arrested 212 times.

The orders are made under powers given to councils and police to deal with persistent troublemakers by Home Secretary Jack Straw.

Newman risked prison if he breached the terms of the order, which included making only genuine 999 calls, and avoiding appearing drunk in Durham City.

But Durham Crown Court was told he twice breached the conditions within a matter of weeks, making an unnecessary call to the ambulance service in Bishop Auckland and being arrested for drunkenness in Durham city centre.

He was recently given a one- month jail term for the drunkenness breach by city magistrates, and last Tuesday was sentenced to two months in jail by Derwentside magistrates for the nuisance 999 call.

Newman, of Braunespath Estate, New Brancepeth, appealed against the first sentence at the Crown Court yesterday. But his barrister, Brian Russell, said he found himself in a "novel position", because that sentence has been overtaken by the two-month sentence on Tuesday.

The court was told that, with good behaviour, Newman's earliest release date is August 10.

Mr Russell said if he did not change his ways, he faced increasingly longer sentences. He said a term of probation, with an order to attend a drying out clinic, may prove a more suitable alternative.

The appeal hearing was adjourned for three weeks for reports.