Derry man jailed for threatening to kill his mother

A man has been jailed at Derry Magistrate's Court today for making a threat to kill his mother and assaulting her.

Dylan Smith (30) of Lawrence Hill in Derry admitted the charges which were aggravated by domestic abuse and occurred on May 21.

The court heard that police were called by Smith's mother who said her son had told her he would kill her and had punched her twice in the face.

Smith was arrested and told police his mother had been giving him abuse and this 'happened regularly'.

He said he had taken some drugs on the night in question. 

Defence counsel Eoghan Devlin said his client had entered an early plea and had 'a varied' record.

Deputy District Judge Liam McStay said that Smith had 56 previous convictions and that this offending was 'way off the scale'.

He imposed a sentence of six months.