A council tax dodger is behind bars for a second time for failing to pay what he owes.

It is less that two years since Angelo Manuel Pinto was first jailed for not stumping up cash that he has been ordered to.

The 29-year-old owed Carlisle City Council almost £2,000 when the authority was forced to take action.

At the city’s magistrates’ court, he was handed a 180-day prison sentence by justices after they heard he failed to pay the authority £1,956.07 in council tax.

Pinto, of Portland Square, Carlisle, failed to make any payments since October 2014 despite being having been in employment.

Magistrates sentenced him to 60 days in prison for each of three separate debts.

Pinto served a 90-day jail term in September 2014 for the same offence.

On that occasion he owed the council more than £1,000 and was sent to prison after failing to abide by the terms of a suspended sentence that ordered him to come up with what he owed at the rate of £5 a week.

Council chiefs have taken action in the past to pursue those who owe taxpayers money.

But a spokeswoman for the authority stated that the council only takes committal action as a last resort.

She added: “We always encourage customers to contact the council and make agreements for payment at the earliest possible opportunity.”