A DRUNK west Cumbrian woman defied a court order by aggressively forcing her way into her mother’s home.

It was the ninth time 44-year-old Serena Robinson had flouted a restraining order which was imposed to protect her mother from her drink fuelled bad behaviour, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant pleaded guilty breaching the order.

Andrew Evans, prosecuting, said the background to the offence was an “unusual” restraining order, imposed in April, which banned Robinson from going to her mother’s flat in Workington “unless invited.”

She was also legally obliged by the order to leave the property immediately if requested to do so by her mother.

“The logic for these unusual conditions is also on the face of the order,” said Mr Evans. “[The victim] asked for the order to be amended due to requiring support from [the defendant] but still requiring some level of protection.”

But Robinson broke the order almost immediately.

On the day the order was agreed, the defendant went to her mother’s flat and asked to borrow her bank card to buy alcohol.

The mother agreed to this but stipulated that she could buy only two cans. Robinson, of Wedgewood Road, Flimby, left with the card but did not return that day.

The following morning, her mother called her and asked her to return the card as she needed it to go shopping.

“The defendant told her she’d emptied the card and spent it on ‘gear’ and ‘drink.’

The mother reacted angrily, demanding that the card be returned.

Mr Evans said: “Her texts that day went unanswered until, at 5pm, the defendant arrived at the door of the flat. She was told to just post the card through the door but refused to.

“She persuaded her mother to let her in and then became aggressive and refused to leave.”

The mother described her daughter as “too aggressive and too drunk.

“[The mother] tried to leave but was pushed back inside by the defendant, who locked the door. She describes being physically pushed into a corner inside the house. This is the battery.

“The police were called by a neighbour who’d heard [the mother] shouting “Get out”. That neighbour also describes the defendant as drunk and very loud.”

Police arrived a short time later, finding the defendant’s mother outside her flat. She said her daughter had been “kicking off.” The 22 offences on the defendant’s record included eight previous breaches of the restraining order.

Marion Weir, defending, said it would be no surprise for the court to know that the issue underlying Robinson’s offending was alcohol.

“It’s an issue which has plagued her for some time,” said the barrister, referring to a childhood trauma which continued to affect the defendant. She said the defendant had also spent years in an abusive relationship.

But Miss Weir explained that while in prison Robinson was in a wing which would give her access to trauma counselling, help that was not readily available to her through local health services.

She would also have help to tackle her substance abuse.

Judge Nicholas Barker pointed out that the defendant committed the latest offences the day after she had been given a suspended eight week jail term and a modified restraining order.

Describing Robinson’s behaviour during that visit to her mother, Judge Barker said: “You were aggressive, you were drunk, and you were loud. Your mother did not want you in the house.

“There is no doubt that she recognised the condition and the state you were in and knew exactly what was going to happen, and that the best way to avoid things going sour was to not let you in.

“You were having none of it.

“You forced your way into the house… pushed her into a corner. She was telling you to get out. Neighbours heard her shouting sufficiently loudly that they called the police.”

It was the defendant’s ninth breach of the restraining order that was put in place to protect her mother. Robinson was responsible for a “serious catalogue of offending,” observed the judge.

Judge Barker jailed Robinson for 14 months. Two months of that term represented the activation of the defendant’s earlier suspended sentence.

Her restraining order was modified on an earlier occasion to prevent her from going to her mother’s home. If the two wish to have contact, said Judge Barker, they can do so on “neutral territory.”