A “toxic” man hid from police under the bed of a woman who had a restraining order against him.

Dean Crockett, 30, was given a 20-month prison sentence suspended for two years last year after admitting threatening to kill the woman, who is from Burnley.

A three-year restraining order was also imposed to protect his victim.

Stephen Parker, prosecuting at Burnley Crown Court, said on December 22, police attended the woman’s address following a third-party call to them.

She initially refused them entry but after some persuading, they went inside and found Crockett hiding under her bed.

It was said she seemed content with him being there.

Crockett appeared in court the following day where he pleaded guilty to breaching his restraining order.

The hearing was adjourned for sentencing on February 5 and he was granted conditional bail – the main condition being that he resided at his address in Middlesbrough.

He failed to abide by the bail conditions and did not appear in court for sentencing on that date.

On February 12, police received another call, this time from the woman, to say Crockett was at her house “causing issues.”

Police entered the house and found Crockett alone in the living room with a large flatscreen TV smashed on the floor.

The woman had left the address after Crockett picked up a dumbbell, and only returned when she saw police had arrived.

Keith Jones, mitigating, said these were “deliberate decisions” on Crockett’s part but also that it was “not unwelcomed contact.”

Mr Jones added that Crockett worked as a door-to-door salesman selling cleaning products, and the company had operations in Middlesbrough, Burnley, Cambridge, and Windermere.

Judge Guy Mathieson, sentencing, described Crockett as “toxic” and said: “I don’t understand how serial domestic abusers get away with it.”

He continued: “Your counsel has just described you as being ‘only 30’. That makes you an adult man. An adult man who is able to make choices and knows the difference between right and wrong.

“You know when you were sentenced, and given the suspended sentence, the impact of that would have been spelt out to you. The consequences of breaching the restraining order would have been spelt out to you.

“That’s not how you act as an adult. That’s not something you need to be told or have explained to you. Where is it in your head that smashing up her TV and threatening to kill her is acceptable behaviour? Why do you need someone to tell you ‘don’t do that Mr Crockett, that’s not on’?

“Next time you are high or drunk it might not be the TV that gets broken. Eyes, arms, and legs aren’t so easy to heal.”

Crockett, of Berwick Hills Avenue, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a restraining order, and single counts of breaching a suspended sentence, criminal damage, and failing to surrender.

He was sentenced to 16 months in prison. The community requirements of his previous sentence were revoked and the restraining order was discharged.