Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary -v- Fawcett

CivilJudgment

Case No: F00BW162

In the County Court at Barrow-in-Furness

10 January 2020

 

 

Before:

District Judge Stone

Between:

Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary

-v-

Fawcett

 

NO APPEARANCE by or on behalf of the Applicant

MR M GRAHAM (instructed by Forrester Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Respondent

 

DJ STONE:

  1. Mr Fawcett, this injunction was only made on 6 January. At the time it was made you were in custody for other matters at that time and appeared by video link. You were also served with the injunction and accept that you were fully aware of tis terms. Therefore, the breach that you have admitted today came very soon after you were released from custody. It is clear that when there is an order there it is intended to be kept and it is a serious breach that so soon after you left custody. In effect in full knowledge of the order made after you were release from custody you very soon went straight back to where it is that you were ordered and directed by an injunction not to attend.
  2. There are substantial reasons set out in statements in support of the Applicant’s application for the injunction which was granted by DDJ Bell on an interim basis. It is a significant concern that effectively at a very early opportunity, you took the decision to breach the injunction, go back to that property, for whatever reason, knowing that that order was in place. That is such a significant breach so early on that only a period of custody is justified in relation to the breach.
  3. I am going to sentence you taking into account given that this is a first breach of the order, that you had admitted it on the first occasion, although having read the statement it would be difficult to do otherwise, however credit should still be given for the fact that you have admitted the breach on the first occasion that you appeared in court and you have asked the court to deal with the matter immediately and without delay.
  4. However, the breach remains serious given the timing of it. If there were any further breach of course, the fact that it has been breached so early would be a matter to be taken into account whatever sentence I impose today. As indicated an immediate period of custody or a custodial sentence is the appropriate sentence. Taking into account your admission of the breach on the first occasion, I am going to sentence you to a period of six weeks in custody for the breach that has taken place today.
  5. You have now heard the effect of what happens and this is the first time and it is so soon afterwards you know the seriousness. On the next occasion if there were another breach, six weeks would be not the starting point, it would be substantially longer than that.
  6. However, on the occasion where you have indicated that you are going to go to other premises, you have clearly stated to me that you understand that you must not go back to these premises for any purposes and to do so would be a further breach of the injunction. Therefore, on this occasion, and on the condition of compliance with the injunction, that means staying out of the area entirely, I am going to suspend that period of custody of six weeks on this one occasion. I stress on no further occasion would it be likely, if there were another breach it would not be likely that you would be given a similar opportunity.
  7. If there is another breach of the injunction, the power of arrest is still attached to that injunction then of course the period of custody that I am imposing today will be activated and form part of an additional sentence in relation to any further breach as well as the sentence for any further breach, you understand that?
  8. I will suspend the 6-week custodial sentence that I imposed for the remainder term of the current injunction, namely until 5 January 2021. Therefore, the injunction will remain in force in accordance with its terms with the power of arrest. If you breach the injunction again, and such breach is proved or admitted then it is likely that the custodial sentence I have imposed today would be activated and imposed along with any other sentence for the further breach.

End of Judgment