Christmas greeting lands dad in court

A dad has avoided being jailed for twice breaching a restraining order and contacting his former partner.

LiamCraggs,33,ofPontop Square, Ford Estate, Sunderland, was warned this was his ‘last chance’ by South Tyneside Magistrates.

Magistrates heard that Craggs contacted his son via his former partner’s social media account on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

It put him in breach of an indefinite restraining order, imposedatGatesheadMagistrates’ Court on June 8, 2016, after an assault on her.

In the messages, Craggs did not threaten his ex or reveal any intention to visit her home, it was said.

Prosecutor Leanne Duffy said: “The defendant is subject to a life-long order. He breached the order by sending WhatsApp messages on December 25 and December 31. The messages were to ask how his son was and to wish him a Happy Christmas and New Year.”

The court heard he also breached a Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) by not complying with a requirement to keep appointments with the Probation Service on June 6 and August 21 last year.

The order was imposed by a court on November 2, 2018, after he pleaded guilty to two assaults against the same woman. Healsoavoidedjailonthat occasion and was given sentences of 26 weeks and 20 weeks, to run concurrently andsuspendedfortwoyears.

In his latest court appearance, he was sentenced after already pleading guilty to two breaches of the restraining order and two breaches of the SSO. Craggs was fined £200 and given a two-year community order.