A TEENAGER considered a failure by his family attacked his father after he refused him a bed for the night.

Burnley magistrates heard how Christian Daniel Howarth, 18, now accepted his family did not want to know him and that he was going to have to stay away.

Howarth, of Lancaster Drive, Hapton, was sentenced to 60 hours community service after being convicted of assaulting Stephen Howarth causing actual bodily harm and destroying or damaging property and being in breach of a conditional discharge for theft and damage.

Neil White, prosecuting, said the defendant had gone to his father's flat when he was homeless and sleeping rough.

He asked to be put up for the night, but was told by his father to go away and leave him alone.

Howarth became angry and his father took his glasses off expecting a fight and the defendant assaulted him.

As Howarth left, he thumped the bonnet of his father's car in anger and frustration. He had one previous conviction after a previous complaint to police by his father.

Mark Williams, defending, said the defendant only came into conflict with the law as a result of conflict with his father.

He had gone to live with his brother in France, but had nowhere to stay after coming back.

He asked his father if he could stay the night, not move in with him.

Howarth had been drinking before he went round to his father's and lost his temper.

What happened was not just a one off, but a culmination of many instances in the past.

Mr Williams said Howarth was looked on as a failure, rather than a success, by his family.

He went on: "The defendant accepts his family do not want to know him and that he is going to have to stay away.

"It is very sad, at only 18, to lose contact with your family."

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