A VIOLENT thug who once attempted to intimidate a police officer due to give evidence against him in court has been jailed after he threatened to attack his former partner with paint stripper.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Blackburn magistrates issued a restraining order against 34-year-old Shane Barker in November 26 after he was convicted of battery in relation his ex-girlfriend, Emily Tivenan.

That order remained in force January when Barker, of Cotton Tree Lane, Colne, was remanded in custody at HMP Forest Bank for six months after he attempted to intimidate the police officer in the public waiting area of Burnley Magistrates Court.

Prosecuting, Paul Brookwell said Barker and Ms Tivenan exchanged letters and sent Valentine’s Day cards during that period and the defendant was under the impression the pair would resume their relationship when he was released in June.

Mr Brookwell said: “Ms Tivenan says he wanted to get back together but she didn’t. From then she refers to various messages of an upsetting nature. One read ‘I have got paint stripper here. You took me for a mug on Saturday’.”

The court heard that on one day Barker left Ms Tivenan six threatening voice mail messages and on July 17 they had a conversation where he told her he had paint stripper and what he wanted to do to her with it.

The following day Ms Tivenan dropped her child off at school and returned to her white Peugeot 107 to find a bottle of paint stripper on the windscreen.

Mr Brookwell said that later the same day the victim was sat in her car when Barker approached and started banging on the window. He then put his finger in the gap of the partially opened driver’s side window and began to pull at it with such force that it was ripped away from the door. Barker ran off but was later arrested by the police.

Barker pleaded guilty to criminal damage, breaching a restraining order, harassment with the fear of violent and two counts of breaching a suspended sentence.

The latter offences were in relation to suspended sentences given to him for the battery and threatening the police witness.

Defending, Trevor Feehily his client’s relationship with Tivenan had started well but came under strain after Barker had lost his job. He said Ms Tivenan didn’t initially want the restraining order and had unsuccessfully gone to the crown court to have it lifted. He also said she had visited Barker in prison and left him under the impression they would resume their relationship when he was released.

Mr Feehily said: “The relationship with the client is over. There has been far too much water under the bridge.”

Jailing Barker for 18 months, Judge Sara Dodd said: “Your conduct in June and July was shocking. It was bullying. It was intimidating. Why Ms Tivenan would want anything to do with you is beyond me.”