An evicted housing tenant could face jail for attempting to smash his way back into the property he vandalised days earlier.

Nigel Hensby had been kicked out of a multiple occupancy address in Landseer Court, Haverhill, after throwing a brick at a neighbour's window in the early hours of Christmas Day.

The 20-year-old returned without permission three days later to cause further damage with a stop/go traffic sign.

Hensby admitted using violence to secure entry to premises at Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Prosecutor Wayne Ablett said Hensby had already admitted criminal damage at court on Boxing Day and was due to be sentenced at the end of January.

"He was evicted from the property because of his behaviour and told not to return without a police officer or member of the housing association," he added.

When Hensby reappeared at the address at 4pm on the same day the locks were being changed.

After banging on the front door and being told to go away, he began beating the traffic sign against a wall and patio doors.

Police arrived and arrested Hensby at the scene.

Mr Ablett said officers had been called to the property shortly after 12.20am on Christmas Day following reports of bricks being thrown at a resident's window.

They arrived to find half a brick on the ground, surrounded by broken glass, and heard Hensby shout: "I've broken a window and you can't even catch me."

At 1.03am, Hensby was under arrest and told police: "I hate Polish people" and that his neighbour "deserved a brick through his window".

At the time, Hensby was under post-sentence supervision after being sent to prison in November for breaching a community order.

Jacqueline Upton, mitigating, said Hensby had been trying to retrieve his possessions from the property, but took full responsibility and wanted to be punished by way of an immediate custodial sentence.

"He feels it would be the best way to deal with the matter and to draw a line under his behaviour," she told magistrates, but suggested suspending the sentence would be as effective in preventing Hensby from committing any further offences."

Magistrates ordered a pre-sentence report from the probation service and remanded him in custody until January 17.