A TEENAGER given a suspended sentence for assaulting a man in a nightclub has now been sent to a young offenders’ institution after repeatedly breaking the conditions imposed with the sentence.

Thomas Mitchell Wear, 18, was given a 12-month suspended sentence at Carlisle Crown Court last year for butting a man in Toppers nightclub in Penrith.

Among the conditions attached to that sentence was that he should abide by a curfew to keep him at home every night and to wear an electronic tag to prove he was doing so.

But, prosecuting barrister Tim Evans told a judge, the teenager’s “compliance has been relatively limited”.

He had broken his curfew by leaving his home in Long Marton Road, Appleby, and going out with his friends over Christmas and New Year, and had once even done so by going to work in Scotland, Mr Evans said.

And in an attempt to hide his movements from the authorities’ monitoring equipment he had frequently “tampered” with his electronic tag, sometimes removing it altogether.

Judge Peter Hughes QC activated the suspended sentence, but said that “as an act of mercy” he would impose only nine months of it.

Wear will have to serve up to half of that period in custody, but could be released even earlier if the prison authorities think it appropriate.

Judge Hughes told him: “If you had kept your nose clean the outcome today could have been very different, but you have burned your boats.”