A STALKER breached his bail conditions by accidentally phoning a woman he was banned from having contact with.

Trevor Dryden, 49, had been bailed with conditions not to contact four named females or to go to an address in Cockermouth until he is sentenced later this month for stalking a woman.

But on September 8, he made a phone call to the woman he has admitted stalking and was arrested for breaching his bail conditions.

Dryden admitted the breach when he appeared before Workington Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Outlining the case, prosecutor Pamela Fee said the phone call had been made at 5.20am while the victim was asleep. She contacted police in the morning when she saw the call on her mobile phone.

The victim was described as ‘distressed’ when police officers arrived at her home. Dryden told police he had mistakenly pressed a button while reading old messages.

Mike Pope, defending, said: “The defendant was messing round on his phone, trying to retrieve messages that might help his case.”

Magistrates re-admitted the defendant to bail and warned him to take care when using his phone.

Dryden, of Sneckyeat Court, Hensingham, Whitehaven, is due to be sentenced for stalking and resisting a police constable in execution of duty, on September 27.