Knife-wielding man who breached restraining order against ex-girlfriend jailed

Daniel Shenton, 24, of School Hill Cottages, Stratford Road, Wootton Wawen, had pleaded guilty to breaching the restraining order imposed by Leamington magistrates in February last year banning him from having any contact with Bethany Fay.

He denied possessing a bladed article when he breached the order by approaching her in the street in Stratford town centre seven months later.

But a jury at Warwick Crown Court took just an hour and 26 minutes to find him guilty.

He was jailed for eight months, with a concurrent four-month sentence for breaching the restraining order.

Prosecutor Scott Coughtrie said that on September 27 last year Miss Fay was out in Stratford town centre with a friend, Lee Billingsley.

The relationship between Miss Fay and Shenton had ended in November the previous year, and ‘due to the nature of the break-up’ magistrates had imposed a restraining order on him.

Shenton was prohibited from contacting Miss Fay for 12 months.

At about 11.30 that night Miss Fay and Mr Billingsley decided to leave the Wetherspoons bar they were in.

They saw each other but decided to ignore each other.

Miss Fay and Mr Billingsley left later to go back to their respective homes, but as they were walking through the town centre they noticed Shenton walking behind them with a knife in his hand.

She told him to go away, but he ignored her and began to make disparaging comments about Mr Billingsley.

Miss Fay decided to call the police, at which stage Shenton left. The police arrived and found him sitting at his car outside The Stratford hotel in Arden Street.

Mr Coughtrie added: “His bag was recovered and searched, and in it were chef’s whites and a box of kitchen knives, because he is a chef by trade.

“The defendant’s case is that he had lawful possession of the knife, and that at no stage did he remove it while in public.”

Shenton said he recalled seeing Miss Fay at about 9.30 as he was returning from work.

He said that when he later left Wetherspoons to go to meet up with some friends, he came across her and Mr Billingsley again ‘purely by coincidence.’

He accepted he spoke to them, but denied making any derogatory remarks and denied producing a knife, claiming his knives had remained in his bag at all times.

But his assertion was unanimously rejected by the jury.

Jailing Shenton, Recorder Kevin Hegarty QC said there could be no alternative to an immediate custodial sentence for having a knife in a public place. He also imposed a new five-year restraining order on him.