AN ex-convict who has continually harassed his parents has been ordered to keep away from them.

David Rushton, 27, who has been jailed four times for flouting a court order banning him from contacting them, was made subject of a new four-year restraining order to keep him away.

Burnley Crown Court heard that the defendant had been invited to spend last Christmas with his parents. But Judge Edward Slinger said even if the defendant's parents had invited him to their home, it did not affect the protection the earlier restraining order had offered them.

Rushton, of no fixed address, admitted breaching a restraining order. He was given a 12 month jail term, suspended for two years.

The court was told his probation officer sister was now willing to help him and Rushton planned to move to Morecambe.

John Marsh, prosecuting, said Rushton, who had earlier been convicted of battery against his father, had been made subject of a restraining order until October 31, next year. He was not to contact his parents Harry and Freda or go near their home on Bentley Street, Nelson.

In June, the defendant barged into his parents' home uninvited, upsetting and frightening his father. Rushton said he had no money, no food and his father asked him what he expected him to do about it.

Angry words were exchanged, although there was no violence, and Rushton's father contacted the police. The defendant told police his parents blew hot and cold but had invited him over last Christmas. Roger Baldwin, defending, said Rushton's parents had asked him to spend the festive season with them as an act of compassion.

He committed the breach when he was destitute, had nowhere to go and wanted to get arrested. It was the least serious breach he had ever committed.