A teenager armed with a crowbar and a wheelbrace at 1.45am on the Mount Estate had to be “red dotted” by police armed with Tasers, a judge heard on Friday.

Zachariah Roberts, aged 19, appeared at Swansea crown court to admit two offences of possessing offensive weapons in public.

Ian Ibrahim, prosecuting, said police were warned by a distressed woman that a man wearing a Balaclava and dressed all in black was in Hawthorn Path.

Police officers arrived and spotted a man of that description, with a weapon in each hand, but he ran away.

They gave chase and he dropped the weapons when they “red dotted” him with Tasers.

Roberts’ barrister, Ashanti-Jade Walton, said he had responded foolishly to being told by an uncle that the home of his friend was being burgled.

Judge Huw Rees warned Roberts he was “quickly spiralling out of control and deserved detention in a young offenders’ institution.”

He was only 18 at the time, said the judge, but already had previous convictions.

“You have offended in a variety of ways for some time,” added the judge.

“It beggars belief. He was eighteen at the time and would have been better off in bed.

“A lot of good people have lived on the Mount Estate over the years. There has been a few bad apples and he seems to want to become one of them,” he added.

Roberts, of Belfrey Close, Milford Haven was jailed for nine months, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to complete 20 hours of a rehabilitation activity and to attend a thinking skills programme.

He must also complete 180 hours of unpaid work.