An anti-social tenant has been jailed for 38 weeks after ignoring an injunction banning him from harassing other residents on a Bury St Edmunds housing estate.

East Anglian Daily Times: Robert Barker was sentenced to 38 weeks in jail at Great Yarmouth County Court. Picture: GOOGLE MAPSRobert Barker was sentenced to 38 weeks in jail at Great Yarmouth County Court. Picture: GOOGLE MAPS (Image: Archant)

An injunction was put in place over Havebury housing association tenant Robert Barker last month due to his behaviour towards other residents at The Vinefields.

Barker, 61, was ordered by a court to refrain from 14 different behaviours that were causing distress to his neighbours, including breaching lockdown conditions.

After disobeying the injunction, he was called before District Judge Spencer, sitting in the Great Yarmouth County Court on Monday, July 27, where he was jailed for 12 weeks for contempt of court.

He received a further 26 weeks in total for harassing, alarming or causing distress to another resident and causing a noise nuisance, as well as allowing visitors between 10pm and 8am.

He was also ordered to pay legal costs of £5,600.

Amy St Ledger, Havebury’s assistant director of customer services, said: “This result demonstrates a great amount of dedication and hard work from our team.

“We have and will proactively work with tenants to resolve anti‐social behaviour wherever possible.

“During this challenging time of social distancing, our team at Havebury is continuing to work hard to support all our tenants and communities to experience peaceful enjoyment of their homes and communal areas.

“We will take action where behaviour is not acceptable and work closely with the police and other partners to make this happen when it is fair and reasonable to do so. We are grateful to the majority of our tenants who continue to follow government guidelines and are pulling together at this particularly difficult time.”

Havebury manages over 6,500 affordable homes across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and is committed to improving the lives of tenants and making its communities safe and enjoyable places to live.