A MAN breached a restraining order by ‘accidentally’ sending a friend request to his victim on Facebook.

Paul Haigh, 54, had been banned from contacting the woman in 2018 after being convicted of harassment.

But he was arrested and brought back before Workington Magistrates’ Court on Monday after his victim received a Facebook friend request from him.

Outlining the case, prosecutor Pamela Fee said the woman had checked her phone on Saturday night and saw she had a notification which was a friend request from the defendant.

She described feeling ‘scared’ and had contacted police on Sunday morning. She said it was the fifth time he had breached the order.

A statement from the victim which was read to the court said: “He’s made me not want to leave the house. It makes me feel like I’m being watched.

“It has a bad impact on my mental health. My faith in the criminal justice system has diminished. I just want to be left alone by Haigh.”

During police interview, Haigh accepted he sent a friend request but said the victim had appeared as a ‘suggested friend’ on Facebook.

He said he wanted to click to remove it but accidently pressed the friend request button. He said he didn’t have his glasses on.

Ms Fee said there had been two breaches of the order in 2018 and a further breach in 2019. She said this was the fourth breach that had been reported.

Haigh, of Holden Road, Salterbeck, Workington, admitted breaching a restraining order.

John Cooper, defending, said: “He was quite open in the interview. He had been on Facebook and had gone through the list of people you may know.

“They are usually the people you don’t want to talk to and that’s why you haven’t added them already. He said it had been done completely by accident.

“Since 2019 he hasn’t been in any trouble whatsoever. It’s some years since the breaches.”

Heather Jackson-Stuttard, chair of the magistrates, told the defendant: “You have to comply with the restraining order. The best thing to do is get some glasses and come off Facebook.”

The case was adjourned until December 18 to allow a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the probation service.