A market trader has avoided an immediate jail term after harassing a mother.

Mohammad Ramzan, 67, Lonsdale Court, Whitehaven - who has worked in Whitehaven and Egremont markets for 50 years - made unwanted visits to his victim's workplace and shouted at her in public, a court heard.

Ramzan was found guilty after a trial at West Cumbria Magistrates' Court of harassing Corrine Wilson over a one-year period starting in December 2014.

He was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, and a restraining order for two years.

The court heard how the pair met when Ramzan began making regular visits to the chip shop where Ms Wilson worked in 2014.

Prosecuting, Lee Dacre, said: "She said he started to make comments that made her uncomfortable but then she would would just brush it off."

Mr Dacre said Ramzan began "shouting comments at Ms Wilson and her children in the street" and continued to make unwanted visits to her place of work.

Magistrates said the harassment had been aggravated by the fact that the defendant made "considerable contact" with Ms Wilson at night time.

Mike Pope, defending, said Ms Wilson had asked Ramzan for money "on more than one occasion" and that communication had gone "both ways" between the pair.

He added that the defendant has "some acceptance and remorse for the upset he has caused".

The court heard Ramzan had worked in his market stall "in all weather" in Whitehaven and Egremont for 50 years since immigrating from Pakistan when he was 14.

He was fined £620, ordered to pay a £80 victim surcharge.