Litter picker, 58, grabbed 13-year-old schoolboy by tie and threatened to break his neck over apple

A 'fed up' playground supervisor grabbed a schoolboy by the tie, telling him 'I will break your neck', after the 13-year-old kicked an apple and refused to pick it up.

Andrew Griffiths, 58, was litter picking in the playground of The Chase School in Malvern, Worcestershire, when he grabbed the teen and tried to make him pick up the pieces of the apple he had just kicked, a court heard.

Worcester Magistrates Court heard that Griffiths had asked the boy to pick up an apple and put it in the bin in September last year - but instead the boy kicked it.

Griffiths, from Malvern, grabbed the boy by his tie and jumper and said: "Pick the apple up or I will break your neck", the court heard.

The incident was immediately reported to a teacher and Griffiths resigned the same day.

The 58-year-old admitted assault by beating and was fined £323 by magistrates, as well as being ordered to make a contribution to costs of £100 and pay a victim surcharge of £34.

The court heard that Griffiths, who had no previous convictions, had initially applied to be a teaching assistant at the school but was instead employed as a playground supervisor after being 'passed over' for the role.

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One of his playground jobs was a litter picker, which involved him wearing a high visibility yellow tabard.

Ian Parsons, defending, said the boy had kicked the apple which caused it to break apart and, when Griffiths asked him to pick it up, he was 'ignored' and instead the boy 'drop-kicked' the apple towards the bin.

He told the court: "He was feeling down and, quite frankly, fed up. He makes the mistake then of grabbing the lad around the collar area. The clip tie came off as part of this.

"He denies making any sort of threat to break the neck. He denies that full stop.

"The same day he handed in his resignation."

The boy suffered no visible injuries, the court heard, and Griffiths' defence accepted that his actions were 'unjustified' and 'would have caused the child some element of shock'.