MAGISTRATES accused a Moredon man of “sticking two fingers up to the court” after he repeatedly failed to attend probation appointments.

Jake Bolt, of Bolingbroke Road, was jailed for 14 days after he admitted breaching the terms of a supervision order.

The probation service said Bolt, appearing before Swindon Magistrates Court yesterday, had so far only completed 90 minutes of unpaid work out of 35 hours demanded by the court order.

Magistrates had little truck with the 20-year-old’s excuse that he could not afford to get a bus from his home in Moredon to appointments held in the town centre.

Jane Flew, chairman of the bench, told Bolt: “This is the third breach. You came out [of prison], you were on licence, then you were on post-custody supervision.

“The expectation and the rules and regulations would have been repeatedly given to you.

“You have basically stuck two fingers up to the court and the court order. You have done nothing.”

Gordon Hotson, defending, said his client was fully aware of the dangerous position he had put himself in by failing to attend probation appointments: “The problem is that he lives in the Moredon area. The appointments require him to go to town. He has no transport of his own. He doesn’t even have a push bike.”

Bolt had no income, after the Department of Work and Pensions stopped his benefits, meaning he struggled to afford the bus.

Mr Hotson bemoaned his client’s “woeful performance on court orders thus far”. In a bid to keep Bolt from going back behind bars he even suggested magistrates made him subject to more stringent curfew conditions than those put forward by the probation service.

But his efforts prove ineffectual with the bench. Jailing Bolt for 14 days, chairman Mrs Flew said: “We feel you have shown no motivation and your compliance has been appalling.”