Upset because his mother would not let him stay at her home a Hayle man urinated in a bottle, put the neck of it through her front door and squirted the contents towards her, Truro magistrates heard.

Realising it looked like petrol gave him the idea to threaten her that he would burn her house down, prosecutor Gail Hawkley said.

Nathan Ritchie, 21, c/o Harveys Way, Hayle, pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour towards his mother Karen Ritchie on January 5 causing her harassment, alarm or distress, and to harassing her on February 3 by sending text messages which were offensive and harassing.

Ms Hawkley said in the past mother and son were in a volatile relationship and he would misbehave at her home and then be asked to leave. On January 3 police were called there and removed him from the premises due to his behaviour. Two days later he banged on his mother’s door, shouting at her: ”I am going to burn your house down, you f…… b……”

Ritchie told the police he was angry because his mother had agreed for him to stay there and then had had him removed. He said when he threatened to burn the house down he had wanted to scare her but would never have gone through with his threat.

The text messages he sent, said Ms Hawkley, included:”I hope you get a disease that will rot you from the inside out.”

His solicitor Dieter Kehler said Ritchie had mental health problems, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and paranoia, and was taking prescription drugs regularly.

“He cannot understand why he was suddenly put out of the house by his mother, ejecting him from the property without his belongings”, he added.

Ritchie was given a conditional discharge for a year and a restraining order was made banning him from contacting his mother until further order.