A middle-aged man, who is a menace to his long-suffering parents when in drink, personally thanked the judge who gave him the chance to avoid prison and seek treatment for his alcoholism.

Joseph McStay, 43, knocked on the doors and windows of his parents’ home on three occasions in breach of a ten-year anti-social behaviour order barring him from their address in Harrogate Road, Bradford.

He pleaded guilty to flouting the order, made in August 2007, on November 26 and December 3 and 7.

McStay, who was living in Shann Crescent, Keighley, was held in custody until he appeared at Bradford Crown Court yesterday. The judge, Recorder Dean Kershaw, ordered him to spend 28 days at a hostel to be assessed for an alcohol treatment programme.

He warned McStay he would be locked up if he fails to comply with the order.

“You know if you have one drink, it will lead to more. You know if you do that, you will end up in prison,” the judge told him.

As he was led back to the cells before his release, McStay said to the judge: “Thank you for giving me a chance.” McStay was jailed for almost two years in 2007 after a judge branded him “a thorough-going nuisance.”

He had repeatedly broken the terms of an ASBO by turning up at his parents’ home. He kicked coping stones off their garden wall and threw one through the windscreen of his father’s car.

Yesterday, prosecutor Abigail Langford said McStay’s parents refused to let him in and alerted the police when he called round three times in November and December last year.

McStay’s solicitor advocate, Ash Khullar, told the court: “Joseph McStay’s life is being destroyed by his addiction to alcohol.”

He was an otherwise intelligent and articulate man who did well at school.

Mr Khullar said McStay alleged he was sexually abused by a priest when he was a teenager. His parents were in court to support him.

“They are decent people who do care for their son but cannot cope with him when he is intoxicated,” Mr Khullar said.