JOHN Garvin's hopes of asking an ex-girlfriend from Blackburn to drop a court case against him put him on the wrong side of the law.

After telephoning in the middle of the night he went to Angela Scullion's home and allegedly made threats.

The 39-year-old, of Exchange Street, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to a charge of intimidating a witness in a case.

Mr Mark Ainsworth, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said it was in July 1998, when his former girlfriend received a telephone call in the early hours. She put the phone down, but Garvin later turned up around 5.30am in her Blackburn home.

He went upstairs and told her: "I want you to drop the charges against me because my solicitor says you can drop the charges." A few days earlier he had been arrested for causing damage to a window of hers.

Mr Ainsworth said a conversation took place during which Garvin made threats to kill her. She repeatedly asked him to leave and eventually he did go.

Judge John Townend passed a five months prison sentence. He told Garvin: "You said things which frightened her to death. Obviously you didn't intend those threats, it was the drink talking."

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