A ticketless passenger had threatened a train conductor, shouted, swore, and hurled a bottle of suntan lotion at a railway station worker, a court has heard.

Ian Pike, 53, of Corbett Square, Tywyn, admitted common assault on Peter Lloyd at Llandudno Junction on 12 May and disorderly behaviour towards Martyn Griffiths.

He also pleaded guilty to damaging smoke alarms and cables at his Tywyn home. The prosecution said the repair bill for the owner was £1,245.

Prosecutor James Neary added that the trouble on the railway happened after Pike was asked for his ticket on a Bangor to Chester train.

Barrister Dafydd Roberts, defending at Llandudno where his client appeared in custody, said Pike wanted help.

He’d first offended at the age of 47 and the background was complex mental health problems.

District judge Gwyn Jones told Pike his first instinct was to jail him.

But he remanded him on conditional bail until 7 July at Dolgellau magistrates’ court for a report from the community mental health team.

Pike mustn’t travel on Arriva Trains Wales services in the meantime.