Man spends Christmas in jail after ignoring court orders (From Craven Herald)

Man spends Christmas in jail after ignoring court orders

8:00am Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News

A 21-year-old Settle man spent Christmas in prison after Skipton magistrates lost patience with him repeatedly ignoring court orders.

Johnathan Greenbank, formerly of Bentham and Giggleswick, was told by magistrates he had repeatedly failed to respond to non-custodial orders.

They implemented a 12-week suspended sentence given in September for breaching a non-molestation order against his father and aggravated vehicle taking, and added another four weeks for criminal damage.

The court heard that Greenbank had trashed his Foundation Housing flat in Settle less than a month after receiving a community order and unpaid work for another offence of criminal damage, when he threw a television set out of his window, damaging the canopy of the Fisherman restaurant below.

In the latest incident, on December 18, police were called to reports of a disturbance at Greenbank’s flat in Church Street at 1.30am, prosecutor Caroline Midgley told the court.

She said the officers found Greenbank and another man bare-chested and splattered in blood. There was more blood on the walls, punch holes in the plaster, a table had its legs broken off and there was more blood on the bathroom floor and walls.

Mrs Midgley said during a 30-minute wait for the police van to pick the men up, both swung between being calm one minute and agitated the next.

She said a spokesman for the charity, Foundation Housing, had said Greenbank had been a tenant for eight months. There had been numerous problems, including damage to the flat and anti-social behaviour, and as a result he had been given notice to quit.

But he had failed to vacate the flat on December 17 and the charity was now taking legal action to get him out.

Greenbank, who admitted criminal damage, had significant drug and alcohol problems, the court was told.

In mitigation, John Mewies said Greenbank had become a source of attraction for Settle youths since moving into the town.

He said on the night in question, he and the other man had taken a cocktail of alcohol or drugs and they had become unruly.

“He accepts he caused damage to walls and to fixtures and fittings. He has already made arrangements for the wall to be replastered,” said Mr Mewies.

He added that Greenbank was a vulnerable individual with a complex family history.

Magistrates told Greenbank that they were sending him to prison for 16 weeks, including the 12-week suspended sentence and an additional four weeks for the latest offence.

They said the reasons they were sending him into custody was because of the serious nature of his offending record and the fact he failed to respond to non-custodial sentences.