A VIOLENT man has been jailed and banned from having anything to do with his family after he targeted two sets of his relatives.

John Lee Johnston, 27, made a phone call on June 13 threatening to go round to his grandparents’ home near Selby “with a car full”, implying he intended violence, said Shaun Dodds, prosecuting.

On June 29, he tried to force his way into his grandfather’s house near Selby at 11pm, swearing and threatening to kill someone.

When his half-brother intervened, he punched him on the chin.

“I don’t want to see him again,” the half-brother told police afterwards.

“If he ever comes back to the address, I would feel scared about what he could do.”

Throughout, Johnston was on a suspended prison sentence given on June 2 for crimes against other older relatives committed in October 2019.

He had stolen their money, driven off in their car against their will and was only arrested after a high speed police chase through residential streets.

“You were lucky to get a suspended sentence,” Judge Simon Hickey told him at York Crown Court.

He made Johnston serve the eight months he had suspended in June and added two months for the new offences.

He also made Johnston subject to a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting several of his relatives or going to the street where they live.

It was the second restraining order forbidding Johnston from contacting family members.

In June, he was made subject to an order protecting the victims of the October offences.

Johnston, of Briercliffe, Scarborough, pleaded guilty to assault and making a threatening phone call on the day he had been due to stand trial at York Magistrates' Court.

For Johnston, Mark Partridge said he had had panic attacks since he was remanded at the beginning of July and suffered from depression and anxiety.

He said Johnston was keen to be released from prison to be with his partner, who had breathing disorders. According to Johnston, she had just been told she had been in contact with a Covid-19 case.

Mr Dodds said Johnston had been drinking during the June 29 incident.