Teachers were threatened by a ‘raving mad’ Johnston father after his teenage daughter was involved in a fight, a court has heard.

Keith Andrew Barrows, 37, of Hillcroft, Johnston, pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress, when he appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates on Tuesday.

The court heard that teachers at Tasker Milward School in Haverfordwest had to separate a pair of girls who were fighting and pulling each other’s hair on January 19.

Barrows’ daughter then called her parents stating one of the teachers put her arm around her neck and squeezed her throat while separating them, the court was told.

Vaughan Pritchard-Jones, prosecuting, said: “The mother and father came to the school in an agitated state and entered the premises using foul language.”

Barrows threated to put assistant head teacher Reverend John Cecil on his backside if he did not go and get his daughter.

He also swore at teacher Karen Malin, and told her she was dead if she called the police.

Mr Pritchard-Jones added: “Clearly the teachers were concerned by his body language, his language and behaviour.”

The bench heard that there had been previous issues between the school and the parents, who had been asked not to attend without an appointment, but no restraining order had been requested.

Mr Pritchard-Jones said: “The school just wants him to know that when he comes to school he should keep a civil tongue in his head.”

The girl’s mother was given a community resolution order by police following the incident.

Jonathan Webb, defending, told the court that tensions had already existed between the parents and school.

He said: “There is a history in this matter, this is not the first time that the defendant and his now ex-partner had cause to go to the school about how their child had been handled.”

He added that Barrow’s daughter’s neck area was ‘extremely painful’ after suffering from a serious illness, and she had been off school for a fortnight following the incident.

Mr Webb said: “From the CCTV it appears that it’s mum who appears to play the lead role. It suggests that she tried to get out of the vehicle while it was still driving and stormed around.

“He accepts he was raving mad and angry and that he lost his temper.”

Magistrates imposed a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered Barrows to pay £85 court costs and a £20 victim surcharge.