A WINDOW cleaner escaped a prison sentence after breaching a community order imposed on him following an attack on a taxi.

Keiron Fawcett was told by Burnley magistrates he would face a prison sentence if he breached the order again.

The 23-year-old had been given a 60-hour community service order after he was found guilty of causing more than £1,000 of damage to a taxi.

Fawcett, of Clover Hill Road, Nelson, had got into a taxi with his partner and then refused to pay after demanding to be let out, Mike Kiernan, probation officer, told the court.

When the driver asked for the £2.60 fare, Fawcett said: "If you don't let me out I will break the glass and break your face" before getting out and kicking the car.

Fawcett then missed three appointments with the probation service to fulfil the community order.

"The defendant has made changes to his life since the offence but has not communicated these to the probation service," Dylan Bradshaw, defending, told the court.

Magistrates added a further 40 hours onto the original order and warned him prison was the next step.