Man given restraining order over harassment

A MAN who launched a month-long harassment campaign against a woman has been given a restraining order.

David O’Neill, of Sandfield Road, Bacup, repeatedly shouted abuse at the victim, threw objects at her house and on one occasion followed her home from a supermarket in an ‘aggressive’ driving manner.

The 47-year-old pleaded guilty at Burnley Magistrates Court to harassment and was given a 12-month restraining order, fined 120 and ordered to pay £85 costs.

The court heard how the harassment took place in Rossendale over a four-week period between June and July this year.

On June 11 he attended her home and shouted abuse and threw an object at the property. The next day he returned to her home again and shouted through the letterbox before later confronting her on a local supermarket car park.

The court heard that O’Neill followed her in his car, ‘drove in an aggressive manner’ and ‘pulled her wing mirror’.

On July 3 he shouted abuse at her in the street before turning up at her home drunk the next day, throwing more objects.

On July 5 he confronted her in the street and when she refused to get into his car he ‘threw a bag of sweets at her’, magistrates heard. The court was told that during the monthlong period he also posted a number of handwritten notes to her address.