A DRUNKEN hooligan who has admitted a string of violent offences across York is now facing jail.

Michael Brian Kitching, from Birstwith Drive, Acomb, broke his strict antisocial behaviour order (ASBO), aimed at protecting residents from his aggression, five times in six months.

Jane Chadwick, prosecuting, told York Magistrates Court that the 20-year-old's spate of drunken violence included:

Entering the home of an ex-girlfriend on December 27, 2004, and threatening to "rip the head off" her new boyfriend as he lay in the bedroom. He fled into the bathroom to escape him and waited for the police

Punching his 16-year-old friend twice in the face on July 16, 2004, after downing 20 cans of Carlsberg Special Brew lager

Rampaging through the York market place, on November 26, 2004, shouting abuse at security staff and throwing bottles at stalls. He later spat at custody officers at Fulford Police Station after being arrested

Attacking psychotherapist Michael Turton with another man as he walked along Scarcroft Green on July 9, 2004. Mr Turton suffered a bloody nose, cuts and bruises.

Kitching, a notorious binge drinker, carried out the offences despite being given a chance by magistrates to control his behaviour and save himself from jail when he appeared before the court in October, 2004.

Kevin Blount, mitigating, said his client was "intellectually challenged" and "under no illusion" that he could now face a prison sentence.

"He is a young man who seems to lurch from crisis to crisis," he told the court.

"Mr Kitching accepts that he has been drinking extremely heavily and has been relying on that."

Mr Blount said placing his client in custody would put him with some of his family and friends, who were also in prison.

He said Kitching was at risk of being made homeless if he got into any more trouble, as City of York Council had imposed a nuisance abatement order on his mother's home in Birstwith Drive.

Kitching pleaded guilty to two charges of assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, threatening behaviour, being drunk and disorderly and driving without a licence or insurance. He also admitted breaking his ASBO five times.

District Judge Leo Pyle fined him £50 for the drunk and disorderly charge, but ordered that he be sentenced for the remaining offences at York Crown Court next month, as it can impose tougher penalties.

He was released on conditional bail.

Updated: 10:09 Thursday, January 27, 2005