A 'DANGEROUS' Carlisle man who was jailed for defying a 28-day court ban on him contacting his girlfriend must pay police legal costs for the case - assessed to be more than £1,000. 

Cumbria Police successfully applied to have a domestic violence protection order (DVPO) imposed on 39-year-old Benjamin Davies Bland.

At the DVPO application hearing, lawyer Tom Young said the restriction – which includes Bland having to leave the home he shared with the woman – was necessary to protect her from his violence.

Magistrates at Carlisle's Rickergate court approved that order, despite the woman it is meant to protect opposing it.

A second hearing yesterday heard that within hours of the DVPO being approved by the court, Bland had breached it and been arrested after police found him hiding in a cupboard in the woman’s house.

Though no costs were imposed for that prosecution, at the conclusion of the police application hearing before the court, magistrates ruled that Bland must pay the £1,067 costs of the police application.

Mr Young said the figure included £500 for his time – charged at an approved rate of £177 per hour; while the remainder was the cost of police bringing the case to court. Such applications invariably involved extensive reviews of police records.

When he appeared at Carlisle’s Rickergate court for breaching the DVPO order, Bland, formerly of Boundary Road, Currock, admitted the offence. 

Mr Young outined how at 10.05pm on Tuesday, just hours after magistrates approved the DVPO, police visited Bland's partner's home to do a welfare check. Officers searched her home and found the defendant hiding in an upstairs cupboard.

Bland was jailed for two weeks.

Police applied for the order after Bland - said to be 'highly intoxicated' - allegedly assaulted his girlfriend on April 9.

There was an 'extensive history' which included previous instances of Bland being violent towards her, the court heard.

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The lawyer said: “Mr Bland is a dangerous individual, with several previous convictions for violence, some involving violence of the most serious kind. There is a history of violence towards previous partners.

“He tends to quickly resort to violence when displeased.”

Bland, who is said to be on the autistic spectrum, has denied being violent towards his girlfriend and told magistrates he was the victim of a 'miscarriage of justice.'

All DVPOs are civil orders and not criminal convictions, though any person who breaches such an order has committed a criminal offence. 

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