Andrew Matthews 38

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A CONVICTED sex offender who previously boasted he had a ‘black belt’ in attacking women has been locked up again.

Andrew Matthews was jailed in 2021 for sexually assaulting a woman, as well as punching her and spitting on her while drunk.

The 37-year-old was told at the time that he would have time ‘to sit at Her Majesty's pleasure and contemplate what he has done’ while serving his prison sentence.

But he has now been sent back to prison for making homophobic comments with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

He was charged with breaching of a restraining order and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, and he appeared to be sentenced at Chester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, March 18.

Michael Caine, prosecuting, informed the court how the offences were committed two days earlier on Thursday, March 16.

Matthews, formerly of Orford, used threatening, disorderly, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause another person harassment, alarm or distress.

He also, ‘without reasonable excuse’, attended within 100 metres of a named Warrington street which he was prohibited from doing through a restraining order imposed by Liverpool Crown Court in July 2021.

This was imposed after Matthews was convicted of a sickening sexual assault committed against a woman, when he groped his female victim in the crotch, leaving her in pain and tears.

The defendant ‘forcibly grabbed’ his victim over her clothing’, causing her to scream and leaving her with bruising.

This came after he boasted to her about having a ‘black belt’ in attacking women.

He also choked her by grabbing her throat, punched her to the face, pushed her and spat at her five times.

Although the only physical harm caused was tenderness to the face, the woman told police how Matthew’s actions made her feel ‘depressed and upset’.

She also said she ‘felt uncomfortable in own skin’, was left anxious and suffered regular panic attacks as a result.

The crown court at the time heard how Matthews had 19 previous convictions for 24 offences, covering a ‘wide range’, but with many involving violence.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to sign the sex offender’s register for 10 years.

For these latest offences, magistrates said that they would take the defendant’s guilty pleas into account, however they said that the severity of the offences meant that only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate.

This was due to him being on post-sentence supervision at the time, as well as his previous record of offending and the fact that he made homophobic comments.

Matthews, now of Brantfield Court in Padgate, was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison and ordered to pay compensation of £154.