A 79-YEAR-OLD man has been sent to jail and banned from being naked or drunk in public for 10 years for breaching a restraining order.

Derek Irons, 79, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday on four separate breaches of a restraining order taken out against him.

The order against him is valid for 16 different people in the village of Hatton – with Irons having an extensive previous criminal order.

The 79-year-old has 20 previous convictions for 57 different offences, with some offences against the victims of his most recent restraining order breach dating back 15 years. These numerous offences include threats to kill, restraining order and anti-social behaviour order breaches, and malicious communications.

The two victims in this latest breach were two of his neighbours.

Prosecuting the case, Nardeen Nemat told the court how Irons had breached the order against the two victims on four occasions.

The pair of breaches against the first victim took place on August 17 and August 20 last year. The first breach involved Irons, seemingly drunk and unsteady on his feet, leaning on the corner of the victim’s garden fence. He then began winking at the victim and trying to talk to him.

The repeat offender then proceeded to swear at the victim, threatening him saying “I’m going to have all you f*****g b******s, he’s nothing him,” before leaving.

A few days later, on August 20, the victim saw Irons on the grass verge scraping meat and bones from his plate onto the grass. This took place whilst the victim left to walk his dog.

Irons then yelled out at the victim saying: “There are too many f*****g dogs.”

The pair of breaches against the second victim took place the following month, on September 2 and September 3.

On September 2, the second victim was returning home from visiting his wife in hospital at around 9pm.  Soon after returning home, they received a phone call from a withheld number.

The withheld number was Irons, who said: “It’s Derek, I’m watching the house.”

Ms Nemat told the court that this frightened the victim due to a previous incident where the victim was threatened by Irons.

She said the victim felt ‘unnerved and intimidated by the call’.

The following day, a withheld number called again, with Irons denying it was him calling when asked. The Hatton man later admitted it had been him calling.

When arrested, Ms Nemat said Irons had asked the police ‘who are the grasses and snitches’ and promised he would ‘get his revenge’.

The restraining order against Irons was not the first served by the courts and had been issued indefinitely against numerous members of Hatton village.

Defending Irons, Megan Edwards pointed to a 13-year anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) as a key event in isolating the defendant from his community.

She noted that he had lived at his current address for 55 years since he bought the land and built his house, and that pre-sentence reports had found he had ‘rigid and entrenched views’ however stated that was due to his age, not mental issues.

Ms Edwards did admit, however, that Irons refused to work with probation.

Judge Recorder Matthew Happold sentenced Irons to 15 months total in prison. This was made up of six months for the first pair of offences, which he pled guilty to, and nine months for the second pair, which he was found guilty of after trial.

As well as this, Irons was given a highly restrictive Criminal Behaviour Order, set to last 10 years.

The terms state he cannot:

  • Make excessive noise from inside a dwelling to the point where it can be heard outside.
  • Be drunk in a public place.
  • Enter any private dwelling boundary in Hatton without invitation, including yards, driveways, or gardens.
  • Feed any animal directly or indirectly, in a public place without permission
  • Be ‘in a state of undress’ in public, including his front or back garden, or in view of a window. The order states that he must wear a minimum of shorts when visible to the public.