A TEENAGER who grabbed a claw hammer and threatened to kill his 73-year-old grandmother has avoided jail after she appealed for clemency.

Jacqueline Layton told police she wanted her grandson Shane to receive help for his anger management problems rather than be imprisoned.

He admitted going to the kitchen to pick up claw hammer and shouting: “I’ll kill you; if you get the police here you’re dead.”

The 21-year-old had got into an argument with his grandmother and his aunt Juanita Layton at their shared home in Churchfield Road, Outwell on May 7 over £30 which had gone missing.

After confronting the pair he went into the washroom and smashed the hammer onto a worktop and a washing machine, causing £150 of damage, before going out into the garden and smashing a plant pot worth £10.

“Both feared for their safety,” prosecutor Susanna Chowdhury told King’s Lynn Magistrates’.

“His eyes were wild and his teeth were clenched.”

Ms Chowdhury said: “His grandmother has specifically said she wishes he can return home to her and has urged the court to allow him to seek help.”

Mitigating, Tim Bartlam said: “He has never known his mum and his grandmother has been his carer all his life. Unsurprisingly, she has a great deal of affection for this young man,”

Magistrates agreed with a recommendation by the probation service to give Layton an 18-month community order to include aggression replacement training after he admitted common assault and criminal damage.

He was also told to pay a £60 victim surcharge.