A JUDGE has issued an arrest warrant for a Carlisle teenager who admitted assaulting a police officer – but then failed to stay at court to be sentenced.

Lewis Nicholson, 18, pleaded guilty to the offence when he appeared at the city’s Rickergate court during a morning hearing.

But when his case was due to be finalised after the court's lunch break, the teenager, of Brisco Road, Carlisle, failed to turn up.

The court heard that before leaving court, the defendant told a probation worker that he needed to go home because he needed to sleep.

District Judge John Temperley issued an arrest warrant.

The defendant, who had the benefit of a Probation Service report following his guilty plea to the offence, which he committed on November 13 in Carlisle, will be sentenced at a later date.