AN EDEN Valley farmer whose bitter fall-out with his wife saw him moon in front of one of her security cameras has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Geoffrey Wilcox, 62, also burned garden furniture which his wife Elaine had been given as a birthday present a year earlier, Magistrates at Carlisle's Rickergte court were told.

The defendant admitted five breaches of a non-molestation order on dates in June and July last year.

He denied a common assault on his estranged wife, but was convicted after a trial.

Glenn Anderton, prosecuting, said the first two breach of the court order - granted by a civil court in May after the couple separated - happened on the evening of June 6 when Mrs Wilcox received a number of text messages from her husband, some of them with abusive content.

At around 10.30pm, he had stormed into the farmhouse's morning room. "She was in total shock and didn't hear him come in," said the prosecutor, outlining how the defendant was abusive and aggressive.

He told Mrs Wilcox he hated her and that he would see her in court, said the prosecutor.

Wilcox then used a bundle of sticks he was carrying to strike her legs.

Though he denied that offence, he was convicted after a trial.

The entire incident lasted only five minutes.

The next breach of the non-molestation order was on Sunday, July 7.

Mrs Wilcox's CCTV cameras showed him walking walking past, gesticulating aggressively, and then moving the camera itself.

Later, he turned another camera around, though just after 9pm he turned the camera back in the right direction.

Mr Anderton said the defendant, from Moor Lane, Brougham, Penrith, was clearly attempting to upset his wife, who felt extremely vulnerable.

On the same day, he left her an abusive note. On that day also, the defendant was seen removing the garden furniture which had been a present from the victim's parents and then burning it.

It was on Thursday, July 11, when Mrs Wilcox's husband was caught on camera exposing his buttocks and his genitals towards the security camera and then putting up two fingers before walking out of the yard.

In a victim personal statement, Mrs Wilcox said that she felt she had been targeted.

It was the police who recommended she install security cameras, she said.

She noticed that her husband's offences were nearly always at night, when she believed the defendant had been drinking.

She referred to a conviction last year that he had for drink driving. "Since some of these incidents, she has been absolutely terrified," said Mr Anderton.

She was worried about what he will do next, he said.

Mark Shepherd, for Wilcox, said: "What we have here is a sad story of a previously loving relationship of over 30 years, which has without question irretrievably broken down."

The lawyer said the court's non-molestation order was served on the defendant by it being left in one of his wellington boots, which he found when returning to the cottage where he is now living.

This had left him upset, said Mr Shepherd. One the evening when he went into the morning room, he was reckless.

After drinking at the local rugby club, he had gone to the farm, not having spoken to his wife for four or five months. She had not realised she was there.

"Frustration simply got the better of him," said Mr Shepherd, recalling how CCTV footage recorded him saying that he loved his wife.

He was clearly unable to cope with the situation.

Magistrates imposed a four month jail term, suspending it for two years, as well as 20 rehabilitation activity days. A restraining order will ban him from his wife's home until October, 2020.

He must also pay £620 costs and a £140 victim surcharge.