A NOTORIOUS troublemaker has been slapped with a curfew.
Serial pest Robert Webber scratched a car while the owner was sitting in it.
Gateshead magistrates heard that the September 22 incident was a blip on the 28-year-old’s long record of offending because he has kept out of trouble for the past six months.
Prosecutor Rebecca Gibson told Gateshead magistrates that a motorist was sitting in his Peugeot 306 when a man, later identified as Webber, made a 30cm scratch on the panel with a key.
She said the car owner and his father followed Webber, who also goes by the name of McKegney, and confronted him but he denied causing the damage.
His description was given to police and he was later arrested.
When questioned by officers he denied making the scratch but was picked out of a line up by both the victim and his father.
At court, Webber, of Wardle Gardens, Felling, Gateshead, admitted criminal damage.
Peter Farrier, defending, said unemployed Webber, who is on a methadone programme to tackle his drug addiction, was drunk at the time.
“He has a bad record but this summer his behaviour has improved dramatically,” said Mr Farrier. “For the last six months or so he has managed to keep himself out of trouble.
“His methadone is being reduced on a regular basis but unfortunately this has had the effect of increasing his alcohol consumption. And on this day in question he was very much under the influence of alcohol and that has affected his behaviour.”
For the next four weeks, Webber will be electronically tagged and must stay indoors between 8pm and 7am. JPs also ordered him to pay £85 costs and £100 compensation.
In March magistrates branded Webber a nuisance and told him to sort himself out.
He has racked up more than 50 convictions for violence and dishonesty and was in the car with Christopher Eade that mowed down and killed pensioner Jimmy Mulligan, 73, as he stood at a bus stop in High Heworth, Gateshead, on May 1, 2002.
Both admitted being in the car, but each said the other was driving.
Eade appeared at Leeds Crown Court but was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving, while no prosecution was brought against Webber.
