A MAN who assaulted his ex-girlfriend two days after their split has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how the “red mist came down” as Aaron Lancaster, 25, argued with Joanne Allenby after visiting her Workington home on March 22.
Lancaster dragged Miss Allenby by the hair on to a lawn at the property. As he was then distracted, she alerted friends in a WhatsApp group that he was “kicking off”. One pal called police – who noted on arrival that Miss Allenby to be shaken, visibly upset and complaining of a sore head – and her former partner was arrested.
After his release from custody the next day, Lancaster drove to her house and punched the windscreen of her vehicle, causing it to shatter. He later repeatedly travelled past Miss Allenby’s address and that of her parents’ when she went to stay there. She also received a threatening phone call which, the court was told, left her “terrified”.
Lancaster, of Brierydale, Salterbeck, admitted common assault and harassment. He had spent a month remanded in custody since committing the offences, time which his lawyer said had been “very sobering”.
A five-month jail term was suspended for a year by Judge Nicholas Barker, and Lancaster must complete a 10-week electronically monitored night-time curfew.
