AN eight-week jail sentence has been handed to a Carlisle man after he admitted threatening a couple outside their home.

The victims of Cyril Greer’s bad behaviour were a couple who live near his former partner in Brampton on Gelt Road, the city’s Rickergate court heard.

The defendant, of Dalton Avenue, Carlisle, admitted two allegations of using threatening behaviour. The first offence happened when Greer saw the male victim sitting in his car.

He had tapped on the window and told the man: “I’ll batter you.”

When the man’s partner spoke to Greer and asked to leave the area outside her home, the defendant told her: “Call the police; they won’t do anything.

"I’ll smash your boyfriend’s face in and I’ll smash your face in.”

She feared Greer would act on his threats, prosecutor George Shelley told the court. The woman feared reprisals and did not want to provoke Greer, said the prosecutor.

The defendant’s criminal history comprises 132 previous offences. They include eight previous “offences against the person.”

Kate Hunter, for Greer, said the victims were the defendant’s former neighbours and there had been previous incidents, which were not outlined to the court. Miss Hunter said the defendant had experienced a difficult time and his mother had passed away earlier this year.

“It’s had a big impact on his life,” said the lawyer, outlining that there had also been a relationship breakup.

District Judge John Temperley said the two offences were aggravated by Greer’s criminal record, which included a “large number of offences,” including many violence and public order crimes.

“So this offending fits into that pattern,” concluded the judge.

The threats were made just a week after Greer was released from an earlier spell in prison. As well as imposing the jail term, District Judge Temperley imposed a one year restraining order, banning any contact with the victims.

He added: “These people were put in fear in and around their home address, a place where we are all entitled to feel safe and secure.”