A YOUNG Wirral man who threatened a shopkeeper with a baseball bat has been ordered to carry out 125 hours' community service.

Peter Hesketh, of Grant Road, Leasowe, pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour and possessing an offensive weapon.

Mr Gerald Jones, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court, that the proprietor of the Flying Dutchman hardware shop on Seabank Road, Wallasey, heard banging outside his premises.

He saw three youths kicking the telephone kiosk and he went out and told them to stop.

Hesketh, 21, threatened to burn his shop down but the owner, Mr Edmund Eichelsheim, persisted in telling them to move on.

They did but returned a few minutes later with three others and Hesketh was armed with a baseball bat, said Mr Jones.

Hesketh was shouting: "I've got a stick. Now what are you going to do about it?"

A police patrol then arrived on the scene and Hesketh dropped the bat and began to walk off but police detained him.

Defence counsel Mr Michael Abelson said that Hesketh, who has previous convictions, was a vulnerable individual who would benefit from assistance.

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