A MAN from Ulverston has been given a suspended prison sentence after failing to pay fines owed to the court for more than four years.

Paul Round, of Rydal Road in Ulverston, admitted failing to pay £252.87 in fines imposed after a conviction at South Cumbria Magistrates' Court on March 18 in 2015.

The 48-year-old was allowed more time to pay the outstanding amount and was given a five-day prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

Magistrates decided the offence was serious enough to warrant a custodial sentence because Round had showed a culpable unwillingness to pay and other sentencing powers had been tried or considered and appeared unsuitable or unsuccessful.

They also said a money payment supervision order and an attachment of earnings order were inappropriate.

Round was ordered to begin paying at a rate of £6 a week. The first payment is due by June 26.

Magistrates told him if he failed to pay his prison sentence could be imposed.