A CLEATOR Moor man who had to be subdued by police with an incapacitant spray has avoided a jail term.

Callum John Newton, 34, ran away from the police officers who had been attempting to detain him in Queen Street in Whitehaven in August last year but he had fled only a few feet before being wrestled to the ground, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

“He was described by the officer as being pulled to the ground where he began to struggle,” said Brendan Burke, prosecuting.

Newton kept trying to pull away, eventually breaking free but again he only managed a short distance - about 10 metres - before he was caught.

The defendant, of Kiln Brow, Cleator, admitted resisting a police officer in the execution of his duty.

Defence barrister Jamie Baxter told the court that at the time of the offence Newton had been 15 months into a two year suspension of a nine month jail term, which he had already breached in August last year because of a criminal damage conviction.

Alcohol dependency had affected Newton’s adult life, said the barrister, and he was living a chaotic lifestyle.

Mr Baxter said that as the anniversary of the death of the defendant’s twin brother had approached, Newton had turned to the bottle.

“He is now managing his alcohol misuse better and engaging with practitioners,” said the barrister, adding that Newton had never before been to prison.

Passing sentence, Recorder Robert Lazarus noted the previous offence for which Newton was given a suspended jail term, which involved him being caught in possession of a Samurai sword and the criminal damage offence which had put him in breach of the suspended sentence in August last year.

The resisting arrest offence happened on August 8, weeks before that criminal damage offence. The judge told the defendant: “You resisted arrest to the extend that pava spray had to be applied.

“I do accept what your counsel says, that as far as offending [seen] in this court this is very much at the bottom end. I am satisfied that it would be unjust to operate the suspended sentence.”

The judge imposed a four month curfew on Newton. It will run each day from 9pm to 7am and will be electronically monitored. There was no separate penalty for breaching his suspended sentence.