A CARLISLE man who subjected his girlfriend to a drunken assault after a night in the pub wept as a court heard he shared a prison cell with a murder suspect.

The defence lawyer representing 41-year-old Richard Farish, who appeared before the city’s Rickergate court via a video link, said the defendant's experience while he was on remand at HMP Hull had left him "terrified."

Farish admitted three offences: an assault by beating, possessing a knife, and harassment without violence. Prosecutor Scott Parker outlined each offence.

The assault happened on March 20 after Farish arrived at this partner’s home “very drunk” after a trip to his local pub.

“She describes him as normally having a short temper but, on this evening, it was even shorter than usual,” said the lawyer.

He followed the woman around the flat and when asked to leave he refused. “His voice became raised, and he was shouting at her in the bedroom,” said Mr Parker. Farish aggressively tried – and failed – to wrench the TV off the wall.

He then tore up tobacco papers and scattered them around the room before going to the kitchen and tipping rubbish from the bin on to the floor as he yelled obscenities.

The woman was attempting to switch off the hallway light in the hope that it would encourage Farish to go to bed when he "barged into her", pushing her to the floor with both hands.

Farish shook his head the prosecutor said he had tried to hit the woman while she was on the floor, raising her hands to protect herself.

He became more agitated when she contacted the police and made his own call to the police. The knife offence was committed on April 30 when police chased and caught the defendant at Queensway, Carlisle.

Officers found that he was carrying a craft knife.

Mr Parker then outlined the harassment offence, which involved Farish subjecting the woman to repeated unwanted attention between April 29 and May 12. On that day, at 10.30pm, he arrived at her home, banging on the windows and doors.

He also repeatedly sent the woman text and Facebook messages. The prosecutor added: “She fears the defendant, but he ignored her appeals and continued to contact her. It affected her daily life and she became scared in case she sees him.”

Jeff Smith, for Farish, of Howard Court, Carlisle, accepted that he had an unenviable record relating to his behaviour as relationships ended.

“He needs to learn to move on,” said the lawyer. “He tells me he knows that his relationship with [the victim] was going nowhere and it’s now at and end.” The relationship was blighted by alcohol use, said Mr Smith.

The defendant, in prison for the last three weeks, had not coped well. “In Hull prison, he has been sharing a cell with a man who is on remand for murder; and he’s interreacted with a man who has used weapons constructed from razor blades on previous occasions.

“Frankly speaking, he’s terrified.”

Mr Smith added that Farish had no wish to drink again in the near future and he was willing to accept any help offered to him by the Probation Service.

District Judge John Temperley said the offences were serious in their own right  but made more so by Farish having previous convictions for similar offending.

“Mr Smith was quite right to say that you struggle to deal with the end of relationships,” observed the judge.

He highlighted previous harassment offences against former partners. Judge Temperley also noted the defendant had indulged in “minimising” his crimes and “victim blaming.”

He imposed 22 weeks jail but suspended the sentence for two years.

The sentence includes a 35-day requirement to work with the Probation Service on his behaviour within relationships; ten rehabilitation activity days; and a 90-day, electronically monitored alcohol abstinence order.

Farish must pay his victim £200 compensation. He will also be subject to a two year restraining order, which forbids him from harassing, alarming, or distressing the woman involved.

The defendant - in tears for much of the hearing - thanked the judge.