A MAN described as a 'professional criminal' has been jailed.

Reece Tarr was sentenced to prison time after he was convicted of a string of offences at Barrow's magistrates' court.

The 25-year-old Barrow man admitted two charges of criminal damage, harassment and drug possession.

South Cumbria Magistrates' Court heard that on March 7, Tarr damaged the windscreen, rear window and bodywork of a Ford Focus belonging to a woman.

He also used threatening or abusive behaviour to cause alarm and distress.

The day after on March 8 he was found in possession of a quantity of class B drug cannabis.

Magistrates were also told how Tarr damaged the woman's car again on April 9.

Tarr, of Ship Street, was serving a suspended sentence at the time of the incidents, the court heard.

For his latest offences, magistrates sentenced him to a total of 10 weeks behind bars 

Explaining the decision to jail him, court records said: "The offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.

"The offence was committed during the operational period of a suspended sentence [and] the number and nature of the offences shows that the defendant is operating as a professional criminal."

The court ordered the destruction of the drugs seized by police.

In December Tarr was sentenced to eight weeks in prison suspended for a year after he assaulted in man in Barrow town centre while on drugs.

Magistrates were told previously how at around 3am on September Tarr had punched out four times at a man he believed was attacking a woman.

He told police he was 'off his head' during the incident at Allison Street and was in the area to buy cocaine.

Tarr was also found with a can of pepper spray in his home.

He told police he had been recently assaulted and used it to protect himself and that he owed a friend £45 for buying it.