A TEENAGER found himself in court after fighting with a school secretary to get his phone back.

The 13-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to assault by beating when he appeared before Swindon Youth Court yesterday morning.

Prosecuting, Nick Barr said the youngster had had his phone confiscated by staff at his Swindon school. He had called his mother after trouble broke out in his class in March.

The boy visited the school office later that day to try and retrieve his phone. An argument with a school secretary turned into a tussle, Mr Barr said: “There was some pushing, shoving and grabbing, probably on both parties. As a result of that, a complaint is made to the police.”

Both the teenager and the secretary received minor injuries in the tussle for the phone. The boy was excluded for a short period, but has since returned to the school.

Emma Thacker, defending, said her client was very apologetic for what he had done. On the day of the assault on the school staff member he felt aggrieved he had been implicated in a fight in his classroom. He had been calling his mother to explain how he felt when the call failed and his phone was confiscated.

Although the boy had previous youth cautions for possession of Class B drugs and theft of a bicycle, Ms Thacker said he had cut his ties with the group with whom he was friends when the offences were committed.

The keen gamer was looking to join the fire cadets to expand his friendship group, magistrates heard.

Sentencing him to a three month youth referral order, chairman of the bench Simon Wolfensohn told the boy: “Injuring someone in this way is not acceptable.”