A 22-YEAR-OLD man who threatened to burn down the house of a former friend while she and her parents were inside it has pleaded guilty to harassment

A 22-YEAR-OLD man who threatened to burn down the house of a former friend while she and her parents were inside it has pleaded guilty to harassment.Adam Edwards, who lives in Homefield, Congresbury, was accused of making numerous calls to a 17-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons and also of turning up and watching her at her place of work.Simon Diaper, prosecuting, described how in one call, which was made sometime between January 13-31 this year, Edwards threatened to set fire to the girl's family home.He said: "He told her and her parents he was going to burn their house down with everyone in it."When the police went to arrest the defendant at his home address he had his mobile phone on his bed displaying the family's home phone number."Edwards faced charges of harassment without violence at North Somerset Courthouse in St George's on Wednesday.Paul Penney, defending, said part of the reason for his client's actions however, was due to the fact he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).He said: "He has not been charged with threats to kill and nobody took him seriously."He is 22 years-old with no previous convictions and so credit for that please."That is important for a man with his disabilities."Mr Edwards fell out with the young woman because she said she had been assaulted by someone else and he did nothing to help her."Mr Penney read a letter out to the court, written by Mr Edward's GP, Doctor Lawson and which described him as a 'thoroughly likeable young man' who had been taking medicine for ADHD and who had stopped drinking since the incidents.Chairman of the bench, Nicholas Hooper, said to Mr Edwards when deciding on his punishment: "We have taken into account your guilty plea and the things your solicitor has told us and your special circumstances."Edwards, whose parents sat at the back of the court, was fined £100 and ordered to pay £45 costs. He was also served with a restraining order and told that he must not make any attempt to contact the young woman involved with the case or suggest to anyone else they should contact her for a year.