MAGISTRATES handed down an eight-week suspended prison sentence on a man who turned up drunk at the sheltered housing complex where his mother lived, shouting, demanding money and hammering on windows.

Robert Roberts admitted verbally abusing and threatening a man he was not supposed to contact because of a restraining order.

James Burnham, prosecuting, told Swindon magistrates on Friday the victim was in a long term relationship with Roberts’s mother and following a previous incident a restraining order had been imposed on him preventing him from contacting the man.

However at 8.20pm on August 30 police were called to the sheltered housing complex where his mother and the man lived because Roberts had turned up drunk. “He was shouting and swearing and banging on windows,” said the prosecutor.

The couple were at home and watching TV when they heard Roberts’s voice. He was demanding his mother go outside and give him food and money.

They peeped through the blinds and saw him but his mother advised her partner not to go out because she thought Roberts was drunk.

Then they heard him shout: “I’m going to beat you up and I’m going to kill you and you’re going to get me into trouble.”

Mr Burnham said the defendant did not accept he threatened the victim but did shout in a way that would be heard.

He told the court the victim was frightened because of what was said and that Roberts had been told on multiple occasions to stay away.

But his mother had tried hard to help him with his mental health issues and often went to appointments with him.

Roberts, of no fixed address, had 20 previous court appearances on his record, mostly for drink-related offences. His most recent was on August 25 for a charge of being drunk and disorderly. There had also been breaches of the restraining order in June.

Luke Jameson, defending, said Roberts was calling to his mother because he didn’t know which home in the complex she lived in.

“He is homeless and his mother helps him out with his washing.” He said he had gone there because she had some of his property and there was no intention to see the victim. “It is unfortunate for him that the victim has moved in with his mother.”

Probation reported that although a community order had been imposed in June, when he did attend appointments he was generally drunk, which meant that staff could not work with him.

He had minimal contact with his offender manager, his level of intoxication was too high and he was not motivated to address it. He abused alcohol on a daily basis and as a result no accommodation providers would touch him.

Officers questioned whether imposing a community order would be setting him up to fail.

Mr Jameson told the court Roberts was seeking help for his mental and physical health problems and “a short prison sentence will do more harm than good.”

The magistrates decided to suspend the sentence for 12 months and ordered him to pay £115 towards victim services.