A teenager who lied about being assaulted with a knife has been warned he could face a jail sentence.

Dean Smith, 18, also admitted damaging a window belonging to the man he said had attacked him.

Smith, formerly of Saxon Court, Westbury but now living in Frome, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and perverting the course of justice when he appeared before a judge at Swindon Crown Court.

Smith admitted damaging a window belonging to Daniel Read on August 11 last year and making a false allegation about being assaulted with a knife by Mr Read on the same day.

Judge John McNaught adjourned the case to February 11 to allow the probation service time to compile a pre-sentence report.

But he told Smith: “Whatever the report says, you have got quite a record of offending now, whatever the report says there might be a prison sentence at the end of this.

“The fact you are on bail must not lull you into thinking it won’t be a prison sentence.”

He released the defendant on bail on condition he lives with a friend in Frome, Somerset, and reports to the police. He had also been living in Chippenham while on bail.

Smith’s brother Mark, of Portway Lane, Warminster, pleaded guilty to a similar charge of perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.