ANDREW CRANE

A CARLISLE man given a suspended jail term for controlling and coercive behaviour was warned to improve his attitude to his sentence - or face time behind bars.

A judge issued the warning to 46-year-old Andrew Crane after a prosecutor highlighted the defendant’s poor attitude to a course he was told to take.

The defendant was given a one year jail term suspended for two years for using controlling and coercive behaviour against his victim between May of 2018 and August of 2022.

Defence barrister Marion Weir said Crane accepted that he needs to put work into his suspended sentence order.

Recorder Kate Bex told the defendant that he was a “lucky man” to have found a sensible barrister to represent him, given that she had been expecting to send him straight to prison for the breach.

He was lucky also, said the Recorder, that probation staff were not gunning for him and were willing to give him another chance.

Pointing out that the next judge to deal with him may not be as sympathetic, she told the defendant: “It doesn’t matter what you read in the paper about prison overcrowding.

"They will send people to prison who have been given a sentence and who stick two fingers up at the system, which is what you are doing at the moment.” She warned Crane to cooperate with the Probation Service.

The defendant was given conditional bail until he is next in court on July 15.