Jail for man who couldn't keep away from his ex

Monday 07 November 2016

A man who couldn't leave his ex alone is starting a 13 month prison sentence.

Daniel Cornish (43) was given seven months for breaching a restraining order and a further six months for being in breach of a community service order.

The court was told they had a volatile and dysfunctional relationship, fuelled by alcohol and other substances.

The court heard how Cornish was given a ten year restraining order back in 2002, when he was convicted of harrassing his ex, but she later applied to have the order revoked, when the pair decided to rekindle their relationship.

Cornish was arrested in July after she had called police saying he'd assaulted her in his home. His defence lawyer said she had telephoned and texted him that day saying she needed money and asking him to buy her some beer, which he did. He said they'd started arguing when she'd started looking through his phone, got jealous and threw it out of the window, and he claimed that she hit him.

His lawyer said: "It's not the case that he turned up uninvited. If they hadn't argued there's a chance they would have continued their relationship as before, although would have continued in breach of his restraining order."

He said: "It appears that all the recent offending directly or indirectly related to this toxic relationship. I understand that she is now in a relationship with someone different and there is no need for them to interact."

He pushed for a non-custodial sentence saying Cornish had already served the equivalent of a six month sentence before appearing in the Royal Court this time around.

Sentencing Cornish to a period of 13 months in prison, Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq said: "This is a complex matter...you were in an on / off relationship. It is clear that it was a volatile one and included excessive amount of alcohol.

"Sometimes encouraged by the victim, this was nonetheless a flagrant breach, you have a quite dreadful record, a whole list of similar types of offending."