A SERIAL nuisance and repeat offender will spend Christmas behind bars after breaking a court order again.

Jimmy Artell is no stranger to being in court or custody, having amassed a number of previous convictions.

The public nuisance is subject to a criminal behaviour order, which is a court order which aims to tackle the most serious and persistent offenders whose behaviour sees them hauled before the courts.

The 41-year-old was handed his criminal behaviour order in August last year by the courts following a drunken crime spree.

Artell was also jailed for 44 weeks at Chester Crown Court after admitting sexual assault, assault by beating, failing to comply with the sex offender’s register and criminal damage.

Through his five-year criminal behaviour order, Artell is prohibited from being drunk in any public place in England and Wales and from being in possession of an open container of alcohol in a public place.

He is also banned from having physical contact with any person while intoxicated, except for a legitimate purpose or with their consent.

But he is now back in prison, having been charged with again breaching his criminal behaviour order.

Artell was sentenced at Warrington Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, December 3 after pleading guilty to the offence.

Mike Caine, prosecuting, explained how this occurred in the Chester area a day prior on December 2, where he was drunk in a public place, as prohibited by his court order.

Magistrates took his guilty plea into account, however the remarked that the offence was ‘so serious’ that only a custodial sentence can be justified.

This was due to the defendant’s ‘flagrant disregard’ for court orders, his previous record for similar offending and the fact he was on post-sentence supervision at the time.

Artell, of no fixed abode, but in the Warrington area, was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison.