A JUDGE has upheld an indefinite ban on a man contacting his girlfriend - despite both the woman and her mother pleading for it to be lifted.

Carlisle Crown Court heard that David Williamson, 39, has a long history of subjecting his partner Daisy Godolphin to violence - much of it linked to his past use of the drug amphetamine.

In 2015, he held a knife to her throat, while on another occasion he threw her into some furniture before then beating her with a piece of broken wood.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Williamson, of Ellesmere Way, Morton, was given an eight month jail term for twice breaching a restraining order designed to stop him seeing Miss Godolphin.

He admitted both breaches.

In court, Miss Godolphin stood in the witness box and pleaded with Judge James Adkin to lift the restraining order.

"I love him," she told the judge.

"I can see better in him that sometime shows."

Under questioning from the judge and from prosecutor Becky McGregor, Miss Godolphin said she felt Williamson had undergone a transformation since finishing his last jail sentence.

She said: "Since he's been out of jail, there's been no violence or anything like that...

"We would like to be able to get help together - counselling.

"We'd just like a chance to be able to be together and move forward; and to stop all this bad behaviour."

Asked about his past violence, Miss Godolphin, of Tyne Close Avenue, Penrith, said it has all been down to him taking amphetamine, and becoming paranoid.

"Since he's stopped taking them, he's been a different person...I love him and I will always go back to him.

"I want to spend my life with this man."

Her mother, Rosemarie Manning, also spoke up for Williamson, telling the judge he had visited her home in Penrith and shared Christmas dinner with the family - despite that putting him in breach of his restraining order.

"Since he had come out of prison, there's been a huge change in his behaviour," she told the judge.

"His general attitude has changed 100 per cent."

The court heard that both police and Probation Service officials opposed the lifting of the restraining order, which was imposed by magistrates in Carlisle in 2015.

In a written assessment, a Probation Service worker said that he believed the defendant still posed a risk of harm to any female he was in a relationship with - despite him having completed a course on building better relationships.

Police supported that view.

Earlier, the court heard that the defendant was spotted by police with Miss Godolphin in a Penrith shop on December 22 last year.

They seemed to be getting on.

On December 28, police went to Miss Godolphin's home in Penrith, and found Williamson hiding in a bed frame.

Neighbours said he regularly visited her, defying the restraining order.

The court heard that he had previously breached the order five times.

His past violence towards Miss Godolphin included an incident in 2015, when he held a knife to her throat, cutting her finger and thumb. In January that year, Williamson also attacked her in a Penrith alleyway.

After the January 2018 assault, when Williamson hit Mis Godolphin with a piece of broken furniture, he threatened a witness in the house if she went to the police, pulling his finger across his throat.

There had been 13 domestic reports involving the defendant since 2014.

Mark Shepherd, for Williamson, said he was keen to change and rid himself of drugs.

"He's made significant changes in his life," said the lawyer.

Giving judgement, Judge Adkin said: "I am not prepared to accede to the application.

"The defendant, in my view, continues to represent a substantial risk of causing violence to his former partner. The circumstances of his last conviction from 2018 reveal an individual capable of making threats to her and making threats about her going to the authorities when he misbehaves."

If Williamson can abstain from drugs and offending, he may seek to vary the order in the future, added the judge.