walesonline.co.uk
>A man who repeatedly stands in the middle of a busy main road then refuses to speak when arrested has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.
>David Hampson blocked the traffic outside Swansea Central police station in December last year then refused to say anything to police officers, lawyers, court staff, magistrates or judges.
>The 51-year-old has been repeating the same pattern of blocking the traffic, remaining silent, then going back to the same spot and doing it again when he is released from the court or from prison since 2014.
>As a result of his behaviour he is subject to criminal behaviour order banning from from obstructing any public highway in Wales or England - a court order he repeatedly ignores.
>The most recent incident took place at around 4.45pm on December 3 last year police were alerted to a man standing in the middle of De La Beche Street blocking traffic just yards from Swansea Central police station.
>Hampson's road-blocking behaviour began in 2014 when he was given a two-year conditional discharge for four counts of wilfully obstructing free passage along the highway. The following year he was convicted of a public nuisance offence for the same behaviour, and made the subject of his first criminal behaviour order. However his behaviour continued, and he subsequently received custodial sentences after being convicted of breaching the court order in 2016, 2017, and in 2018 when he was sentenced to 42 months in prison.
>Hampson, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
>The defendant remained silent throughout the sentencing hearing, not responding when asked to confirm his name and saying nothing when he judge asked him if there was anything he wished to tell the court.
