A BARROW man who sent unwanted letters to a woman and turned up at her house to ‘kiss her window’ has been jailed.

Gavin John Russell Hazlett appeared in the dock at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court, where he also faced a charge of assaulting a police officer.

The 42-year-old was jailed by magistrates for a combined total of 28 weeks.

Hazlett changed his plea to guilty the day before he was set to appear in court to stand trial.

The man was first apprehended by police at around 2.30pm on May 5, when an officer was said to have been called to a report of an assault in Ulverston’s Hartley Street.

The court was told he hit the officer, PC Jonathan Murray, a number of times on the wrist during the incident.

Prosecutors said Hazlett was outside the victim’s address banging on the window and licking it.

The defendant was said to have started to goading the officer, who attempted to to stop him leaving the scene.

The court was told that when police spoke to the victim she told them he had been attending her address on May 4 and 5.

She also told officers Hazlett had sent her a number of unwelcome letters between November 2018 and May 5.

Hazlett, of School Street, Barrow, was told to pay £200 in compensation to the police officer and £300 to the woman.

Peter McCall, Cumbria’s police and crime commissioner, said: “Stalking is incredibly distressing for the victim and the police take it very seriously.

“There can be a number of reasons for stalking but it’s something that is absolutely unacceptable.

“It’s a crime that’s not always the easiest thing to prosecute so it’s great news to see a prosecution come through the courts and into fruition.”

Paul Williams, chair of the Police Federation in Cumbria, said: “I think the sentence one that’s proportional to the offence.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable to do this to an emergency worker.”