A SERIAL offender has once again been in court, after being found guilty of harassing a woman.

Derek Warburton, 31, spent almost a month trying repeatedly to contact a woman who he had reasonable knowledge had no interest in speaking to him.

The resident of Vulcan close in Padgate has 60 previous convictions, spanning 110 different offences. He has also spent 34 months in prison, after having previously been caught breaking into someone’s home to use their credit card to buy McDonalds.

Between July 25 and August 15 of last year, Warburton repeatedly contacted a woman who prosecutor Edward Rattigan said had “fled the area” and “wanted him to leave her alone”.

This was following an incident in which he left the woman multiple voicemails.

Mr Rattigan then told the court how she then “received a call from a withheld number”, and recognising Warburton’s voice, informed him to no longer try and contact her.

This happened on multiple further occasions, during each of which she told him she “didn’t want anything to do with him”. On one of these occasions her cousin recorded the call to use as evidence.

Barrister for the defence David Robb spoke of how Warburton had a troubled childhood, being placed in the child care system between the ages of eight and 18.

He also said that Warburton was seeking help for his “excessive alcohol consumption” and “was drunk when he made the calls”.

When discussing the sentence with the chair of the magistrates, Mr Robin Bradshaw, the defence acknowledged that Warburton “refused to do unpaid work as part of his sentence.”

Mr Bradshaw displayed incredulity at this, asking Mr Robb whether Warburton “knows this isn’t a restaurant menu where you can pick and choose what you want?”

Warburton escaped further jail time, receiving an 18 month community order, along with a rehabilitation requirement of 25 days, as well as an intensive alcohol abuse treatment.

He was also served with an 18-month restraining order.