Man 'frightened to death of prison' jailed after being given 'chance after chance'

A man who is "frightened to death of prison" has been jailed after repeatedly breaching court orders. William Williams, 22, was given "chance after chance" but ignored rulings not to contact his former partner.

Williams said she was one of the few people who ever helped him but a judge said he had a duty to protect the woman and the value of court orders. The judge at Mold Crown Court jailed Williams, of Crescent Road, Wrexham, for six months for each of three breaches of court orders, with two running concurrently. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here

Prosecutor Simon Rogers said Williams and the woman had been in a relationship for some two years. But he was given a restraining order not to contact her.

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However he breached it and was given a 14-week jail sentence, suspended for 16 weeks, last October. But in January this year Williams sent her Facebook messages including: "I miss you. I can't do life without you. I want everything to go back to normal."

He asked to meet her and they did several times at a place called Mirrors behind a Wrexham school. She met him three times in January because she "felt bad" for him.

But later he called her a "slag" and complained she had "time for her friends but not him". She said she felt "trapped and manipulated", said Mr Rogers.

When the victim mentioned the name of the father of her child Williams said he would kill him and her. Police were called in April this year and Williams gave no comment answers to questions.

In a victim statement the victim said she was worried Williams might come to her home and hurt her. Duncan Bould, defending, said the defendant is unwell.

He was born with a condition which affected his heart and has learning difficulties. He was at a "low ebb" mentally when he offended.

Mr Bould said Williams believes the victim is one of the few people ever to have helped him. She talked to Williams with both knowing these conversations would breach his restraining order.

Mr Bould added: "He has been given chance after chance to comply with court orders and he appears not to have taken any notice." He said he is "frightened to death" of going to prison.

Mr Bould said: "He does not want to be locked up with a lot of people who are going to take advantage of his shortcomings and personal difficulties. (But) he is unwell. At some point he is going to have to get some proper treatment to help him deal with the problems he's got which - to some extent - are not of his making."

The judge His Honour Niclas Parry told Williams that the courts don't want to jail people. "When that person is undoubtedly not well - physically, mentally and disadvantaged in several ways - the court will if possible do everything it can to avoid sending someone like you into custody and that's why the court gave you a conditional discharge for the first breach of the restraining order imposed for violence upon the same victim."

But there had been a "campaign of breaches". In fact there were three breaches of restraining orders between January 1 and January 31, between February 1 and February 27 and between March 1 and March 11 this year.

Jailing Williams, he reminded him that when he is released the restraining order prohibiting him from contacting his victim will still have over four years left to run.

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