A WORKINGTON man who destroyed his former partner’s iPhone a week after they broke up has been given a 28-day curfew as punishment.

Daniel Heavy, 39, who admitted causing criminal damage, was also fined £400 and told to pay £900 compensation to the woman. Carlisle Crown Court heard that he committed the offence March 10 after going to the woman's home and finding she was out.

He took her phone from her handbag while she was visiting a neighbour, said prosecutor Ben Stanley. When she returned, she found her phone was broken.

Judge Nicholas Barker said the defendant, formerly of Berwick Street, Workington, but now living in Maryport, was angry and not accepting the breakup of the relationship. He destroyed her phone in a “spiteful act.”

As well as the fine, the defendant must observe a tagged curfew between the hours of 7pm and 5am. If he fails to pay the fine, there will be a period of default in custody of four days.