A “DEVASTATED” mother said she was forced to call the police when her son smashed up her kitchen after calling her “the worst mother ever”, a court has heard.

Benjamin David Dearing, 26, admitted criminal damage to his mother’s kitchen after he damaged a microwave and two chairs, threw food around and smeared it over the walls on 19 July.

While Dearing said he “felt very bad” about the incident, he told his solicitor that his mother had been “annoying him” with magistrates hearing that he would even “welcome” a restraining order to keep him away from his mother.

Prosecutor Ellie Morgan said Dearing, currently living at Cyl Graig, Trefilan, Talsarn, had been staying with his mother Susan on and off for a while, but she had mounting concerns about his aggressive behaviour and told police that he had a history of drug-taking which she was worried about.

Ms Morgan told magistrates that Dearing’s mother had received a string of abusive text messages from him leading up to the damage after she had refused to give him £50.

She said the messages, which included Dearing claiming she was “the worst mother ever”, had frightened her and she had left her home to stay with a friend for a while.

During that time Dearing sent a message warning she would need to “rebuild” the house if she didn’t do what he wanted, before smashing was heard coming from her home while she was visiting her mother.

Ms Morgan said the cost of the damage was estimated to total between £800 and £1,000.

Defence solicitor Janem Jones said Dearing disputed much of what his mother had said, insisting that she had been causing him problems and Ms Jones said he felt the “picture isn’t quite as it has been painted”.

She said, while Dearing accepted that he had caused the damage and was remorseful for it, she said he wanted to make a fresh start away from his mother and was due to start a new job in the Swansea area shortly.

Ms Jones said that was why Dearing would “welcome” a restraining order to keep him away from his mother.

Magistrates said they wanted a pre-sentence report to learn more about Dearing before deciding how to sentence him.

The defendant was released on conditional bail until a sentencing hearing on 24 August.