Exclusive:Abuser who avoided prison repeatedly visited home of victim despite restraining order, court hears
It took less than a week for him to breach the restraining order
A man repeatedly broke the conditions of his restraining order only weeks after avoiding prison over domestic abuse charges.
On March 24 this year, 45-year-old John Lindley was handed a suspended sentence after being convicted for intentional strangulation.
Alongside this, a restraining order forbidding him from seeing the woman he abused was also put in place for three years.
However, at a hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday (June 15), it was explained that within a week Lindley had broken his restraining order.
On March 30, he attended the woman’s address for which was given a two month prison sentence, the court heard.
Prosecuting barrister Paige Yellott said that just over a month later, on May 6 - following his short prison sentence - he once again visited the woman’s address in Chesterfield.
The woman spotted him standing outside her home, the court heard, before walking away.
“A note had been pushed through the letter box,” Ms Yellott added.
The note contained a number the complainant did not recognise, it was explained, and after calling the police Lindley was arrested.
Ms Yellott explained that during the police interview Lindley, of Occupation Lane, claimed to have not had a mobile phone for two years.
Nevertheless, during a search of Lindley’s property, officers recovered a mobile phone that matched the number left on the note, the court heard.
Lindley’s representative, Michael Cane-Soothill, told the court that his client had received no support since his release from prison and continued to suffer with alcohol addiction.
“He tells me for the second time he was released without any support or nowhere to go, and that’s one of the reasons he tried to reach his partner,” Mr Cane-Soothill added.
“This was clearly a deliberate breach of a court order,” Recorder Ayesha Smart said when passing sentence.
She said that there is “very little mitigation” in Lindley’s defence and that there would be “no injustice” in activating his suspended sentence.
Lindley was sentenced to a total of 20 months’ imprisonment, made up of 18 months from the suspended sentence and two for breaching his restraining order.