A BULLY who threatened to blow up his ex-girlfriend’s home has found himself back behind bars for contacting her.

Lewis Shackleton was previously jailed for intentionally strangling another former partner and behaving in a way which attempted to control her.

The 24-year-old appeared back before Warrington Magistrates’ Court to stand trial on a charge of breaching a restraining order.

He was convicted by magistrates after denying the offence and was subsequently jailed.

The court heard from prosecutor Tom Quirk how the defendant was the subject of a restraining order imposed by the same court in September 2021 after being convicted of threatening to destroy property.

He made the unnerving threat during a phone call with his former partner following the breakdown of their ‘tempestuous and turbulent’ relationship.

A recording played in court revealed how Shackleton threatened to ‘put her door through and blow up the gaff’.

The victim told the court she was left ‘paranoid’, adding: “I wish it was just a nightmare I could wake up from. It is scary to think about it – he has no remorse.”

His solicitor told the court that he was ‘genuinely remorseful’, and Shackleton was handed a 20-week imprisonment suspended for two years.

Before sentencing, district judge Nicholas Sanders said: “You need to take a good, long, hard look at yourself and where you are in life, and where you need to go from here.

“You have come close today to going into immediate custody. This is realistically the last chance you’re going to get.

“Sort yourself out – take a long, hard look at yourself and start looking forward.”

But the defendant failed to take heed of this warning before committing this latest string of alarming offences.

In addition to the suspended sentence, he was also made the subject of a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the woman for the next two years.

It was this order he breached on June 26 last year in Warrington, when he approached the victim and shouted at her.

Convicting him, magistrates remarked that the defendant has a ‘flagrant disregard for court orders’, referencing his previous convictions and adding that the severity of the offence merited an immediate custodial sentence.

Shackleton, of Jervis Close in Padgate, was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison and made the subject of a new restraining order prohibiting contact for a further two years.

Among his other previous convictions is a suspended sentence in 2019 after being caught carrying a ‘7cm military-style knife’ in Warrington Bus Interchange.

He was also previously jailed for 72 weeks in October 2022 for intentional strangulation, making threats to kill and engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour.

His behaviour spanned a period of more than seven months in Warrington.

This saw the defendant use physical and emotional violence towards his girlfriend, check her locations and threaten suicide, knowing that such behaviour would have a serious effect on her.