A BASILDON man has been spared jail after magistrates who convicted him of making threatening phone calls showed leniency because of his family commitments.

Jamie Clark, 34, of Cattawade Link, made the calls to a woman and Essex Police on 8 June with the intention of causing anxiety or distress to the recipients.

He was give six week jail sentences for each offence (to run concurrently) but both were suspended for 12 months after magistrates considered his family commitments.

Clark was issued with a restraining order preventing him from contacting two people for a year and must carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay costs and a victim surcharge totaling £273.