A TEENAGE girl from Darlington narrowly avoided custody and was warned she was being given her last chance to behave.

The 14-year-old was given a 12-month supervision order and has been electronically-tagged, as part of a three-month curfew, which will force her to be at home between 7pm and 8am.

She appeared before the town's youth court yesterday after failing to comply with an existing six-month supervision order, which was imposed in June for burglary and criminal damage.

The girl, who can not be named for legal reasons, had not been attending appointments arranged by the youth offending team and had failed to surrender to custody.

The court heard that the youth offending team was concerned with her attitude and lack of co-operation and her father had "come to the end of his tether" and did not know where his daughter went at night.

Magistrates said they were considering keeping her in custody through a detention and training order.

Robert Hutchinson, mitigating, said: "There are issues with this young lady that we need to get to the bottom of.

"If she is placed in custody, she will be mixing with more sophisticated criminal minds and I fear her problems will not be sorted.

"There is a risk we will see a revolving door situation where as soon as she comes out of custody she will re-offend and be put back into custody."

He said that a supervision order, with a curfew, would enable the youth offending team and her family to give her the support she needs so she does not commit another crime.

Chairman of the bench, Derek Senior, told the girl: "This supervision order is your very last chance. The order is a direct alternative to custody, which means if you breach the order you will go away."