A GLUSBURN man described as the village ‘cadger’ for going around asking for money has been given a restraining order by Skipton magistrates.

Jonathon Carter, 49, repeatedly asked one man in the village for money for himself and his mother, but also asked for cash in a pub and at a hairdressers salon, the court was told.

Carter had taken £350 from the man, who lived alone in social housing, and who had mental health difficulties, the court was told.

Despite a verbal warning from police, Carter had continued to ask him for money, claiming he and his mother were hungry.

When Carter was interviewed by police, he said he considered himself a friend of the man, and that he visited him in order to ‘calm him down’.

Prosecuting, Melanie Ibbotson, said it was not a case where threats had been made, but it was persistent harassment of a vulnerable adult.

Carter, who admitted the harassment of the man between September 18 and September 29, last year, had also gone into the Old White Bear in Cross Hills asking for money and various other places, the court was told.

Keith Blackwell, in mitigation, described him as the ‘Cross Hills cadger’ and that he had wanted money to pay for medical treatment for his dog.

“There were no threats and this was a relationship that had endured for some years,” said Mr Blackwell, adding that the man had been sympathetic to his client in the past, and that some of the money he had borrowed had been repaid.

“He found a willing helper, but he milked him more than he should have done,” said Mr Blackwell.

Magistrates told Carter they understood he needed money to pay for his dogs, but that his actions had left the man feeling anxious. His behaviour had not been malicious, but it had been misguided.

Carter, of Colne Road, was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay the man £350 compensation, costs of £85 and surcharge of £20. He was also given a restraining order banning him from contacting the man by any means, or going to his home for five years.