A TEENAGER has admitted using an air rifle to frighten a man in an incident in York city centre.

Jack Alan Hunter, 19, denied a further charge that he had a wooden cosh with him in public.

Both charges were brought after an incident on Hallowe’en in Blake Street.

Hunter, of Thirlby, Thirsk, pleaded guilty to the firearms offence during a preliminary hearing at York Crown Court. It was his first conviction of any kind.

Prosecutor Alan Mitcheson said “During the course of this incident the expression ‘egg fried rice’ was used towards the complainant.”

The defendant accepted he used it and that he did so in circumstances that would lead the complainant to regard it as containing a racial connotation.

Police later found the cosh in the boot of a car, but Hunter denied intending to use it as an offensive weapon and said it belonged to someone else, said Mr Mitcheson.

The prosecution intend to offer no evidence and ask for the cosh charge to be formally discharged at the next hearing.

Hunter’s barrister Dan Cordey successfully asked for the case to be adjourned so probation officers could prepare a pre-sentence report. Hunter was released on bail to return to York Crown Court on December 18 for sentence.