Four-month jail sentence for breaching bail

An Orkney resident has been jailed for four months for breaching a bail condition.

The condition, imposed at Wick Sheriff Court, in May, banned Carl Howley from contacting a local woman.

However, Howley, who was also living in the town, at the time, telephoned her a matter of hours after he had been granted conditional bail. He subsequently failed to turn up in court and a warrant to arrest him was granted.

Sheriff Andrew Berry described as “remarkable” that the accused had breached his bail, the same day as it was granted.   The sheriff calculated that, overall, Howley had offended while on bail, on no less than ten occasions and had breached bail orders a further four times.