A Carlisle factory worker who harassed his ex-girlfriend and then assaulted his current partner after being given a chance by a judge to mend his ways has been jailed.
Mark Linden Goodwin, 53, was handed a community order by a judge in July last year for the illegal possession of a bladed article — a Stanley knife — at the city’s Carleton clinic.
Goodwin initially made encouraging steps in his bid to conquer an alcohol addiction but then stepped away from help being offered by the probation service.
He was back at Carlisle Crown Court in September having admitted sending his ex-partner a malicious communication, and been convicted in his absence of harassment over the course of several days in June.
Goodwin became jealous and abusive to the woman during a phone call. He then contacted her place of work, pretending he was a police officer and claiming the woman had a criminal record while making a violence allegation about her; and in a separate call to a family member he made a threat to kill her.
A judge deferred the sentence for those two crimes, giving Goodwin, of Borland Avenue, a chance to mend his ways.
But less than three weeks later, Goodwin assaulted his current girlfriend while the pair were “heavily intoxicated”. After she turned violent, he initially sought to defend himself but then lost his temper and punched her several times, before swearing at witnesses.
A hygiene supervisor at the Cavaghan & Gray factory, he admitted assault and a public order offence and was sentenced for all his offending at the crown court this morning.
Judge Nicholas Barker imposed 10 months’ immediate imprisonment, saying his conduct towards the ex had been “gratuitous, unpleasant and nasty”. “Overall it was a tirade of abusive language that carried on for some period of time. It was designed to be hurtful; it was spiteful; it was deeply unpleasant,” said Judge Barker.
