A CHARD man has been sent to prison for six months after persistently contacting his ex partner in breach of a restraining order and harassing her new partner.

Ian Mitchell-Snudden had been previously jailed for a number of previous similar offences but still refused to accept he could not contact the victim and as soon as he was released began to contact her through a third party.

In a victim impact statement the victim said that the offences were putting pressure on her new relationship.

She said: “I’m not scared of Ian but am just frustrated that he cannot stick to the restraining order and is now causing problems for my partner.”

When he appeared in court at Yeovil District Judge David Taylor told the defendant that when he was previously before the court the magistrates had felt it necessary to make a restraining order, but he had breached it three times and was sent to prison.

He said: “You came out and breached it straight away and the victim is frustrated that you cannot stick to the order that was made.”

He added that he accepted that Mitchell-Snudden had breached the order because he was trying to gain access to his children and acknowledged the difficulties that fathers like him faced.

“However, you have chosen to go down your own route and the harassment against the victim’s partner is also part of the case and the inevitable sentence is immediate custody,” he said.

The 29-year-old defendant, of Chesterfield, pleaded guilty to contacting his former partner via a third party on July 1 that he was prohibited from doing so by a restraining order imposed by Somerset Magistrates on March 5 this year. He also admitted pursuing a course of conduct amounting to the harassment of Lyndon Jones in that he sent him a number of messages via Facebook between June 27 and July 1.

Prosecutor Adrian Maxwell said that Mitchell-Snudden had been given two restraining orders not to contact his former partner of seven years after he admitted assaulting her.

On March 19 he was given a six-month prison sentence for breaching those orders and then resumed contact immediately after his release.

He said: “On June 30 the victim reported that since the defendant’s release he had contacted her repeatedly in relation to the children and access and there were also messages made to her new partner via Facebook about the same issues.”

Defending solicitor Chris Ivory said that the probation service could not offer his client anything in terms of rehabilitation because of his repetitive behaviour and the number of breaches on his record.

He said: “This is a sad case where the defendant keeps breaching the restraining orders because of a state of desperation to see his children.

“He has had depression and anxiety following the break-up of his relationship and the harassment was only a small number of incidents over the course of two or three days,” he said.

“He was not demanding and just wants to see if there is a way he can gain access to his children without breaching a restraining order.“He was just trying to exercise all reasonable avenues he could think of but sadly it has ended in this way.”

Mitchell-Snudden was sent to custody for six months for breaching the restraining order and was given a 12-month conditional discharge for the harassment offence. A £180 court charge and an £80 victim surcharge were also imposed.