AN ARREST warrant has been issued in order to help find a Newtown man who breached the terms of a suspended jail sentence.

Wesley Hardiman, 37, was given a five-month prison sentence in February of this year, which was suspended for a period of two years.

The suspended sentence was handed down by Telford magistrates following an “unprovoked attack of a serious nature” on a female former neighbour.

Hardiman, of no fixed abode, had previously lived in Lon Masarn, Newtown. The attack occurred in a pub in Shrewsbury, 32 miles away. 

Hardiman, who had lived next door to his female victim and her partner, was said to have punched her in a pub when he bumped into the couple in Shrewsbury on November 11 last year.

Hardiman admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on his female victim at an initial hearing in January.

At Welshpool Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (October 18) probation officer Julian Davies applied for an arrest warrant after reporting that Hardiman had breached the order, claiming Hardiman had “misbehaved” while subject to it.

As part of the suspended sentence order, Hardiman was served with a restraining order barring him from approaching or contacting the victim and her partner by any means. He is also not allowed to go to their address. This order was put in place for two years. He was warned that breaching the restraining order could land him in prison for five years.

He was also ordered to pay the woman £200 compensation, while it also required him to carry out 24 days of rehabilitation activity requirements.

Magistrates issued a warrant without bail.