An Express Gifts worker who was convicted of attacking his mother’s neighbour has had his unpaid work cancelled.

Jamie Birtwistle, 29, of Clement Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty at Burnley Crown Court to common assault in June and was given a was given a three-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and pay £100 compensation.

The Observer reported how he grabbed a woman by the neck after an argument and ‘tried to ram her head into a window’ leaving her ‘shaken and bruised’. However he was brought back to court after failing to comply with the requirements of the order.

The court heard how he had missed 31 appointments in two months with 22 being acceptable because of depression.

Richard Archer, defending, said Birtwistle had completed two thirds of the unpaid hours and has ‘grasped the problem’ of his depression by getting a job at Express Gifts and ‘ridding himself of drugs’.

Judge Beverley Lunt said the unpaid work was now ‘unworkable because of his health problems’ and revoked the order.

She gave him a seven-day curfew and ordered him to pay a £150 charge and £75 costs.