A MAN caused his former partner “great fear and anxiety” after she ended their relationship, a court heard.

Brian Fairhurst was asked to leave the woman’s Sedgefield home, where he had lived since May last year, on December 22, due to problems with his drinking.

Durham Crown Court was told he became aggressive and kicked the bedroom door, which he put a hole in, before he left with £100 taken from her purse.

She was concerned for his welfare and arranged for him to stay at a local hotel.

Paul Rooney, prosecuting, said Fairhurst began bombarding her with messages, so she blocked him, but he then sent messages to her mother and disclosed private information to her about her daughter. As a result, his ex-partner unblocked him to spare her mother from receiving more messages.

The woman became aware Fairhurst was watching her after he gained access to CCTV footage of her home on his mobile phone as he had the log in details.

A complaint was made to police and Fairhurst was issued with a harassment warning on January 5.

But he breached it two weeks later when he turned up in her garden and said he had no money and asked stay at her home. She refused, but did allow him to sleep in her father’s parked car.

The next morning he was collected by his mother, but continued to send messages and in one told his ex he was coming round. She left the house and locked the internal door, as he told her he had lost his key, but she left his post in the porch.

Mr Rooney said she received texts all afternoon asking when she was coming home.

She eventually returned at about 5pm, thinking he would have left, but she found him drunk in her bed, with a bottle of vodka, laughing at her when she discovered him there. He had also put up all the photographs of them together that she had taken down.

Fairhurst was again collected by his mother but after it was reported to police he was arrested and bailed.

Over following days he kept sending texts to his former partner asking her to withdraw her statement to police about him, eventually turning up again at her house making the same plea.

She again reported him and he was taken into custody.

The 42-year-old defendant, of Ronvyle Avenue, Stockton, admitted stalking, doing acts intended to pervert the course of justice, theft and criminal damage.

Simon Perkins, mitigating, said it was mainly telephone harassment, with the two incidents of turning up at her home, and there was never a threat of violence.

Mr Perkins said it resulted in his client, who had one previous conviction, spending his first spell behind bars for the last 31 days.

Judge Ray Singh said Fairhurst’s course of conduct was, “designed to cause great fear and anxiety”, to his ex-partner, ignoring warnings and then bail conditions.

Imposing a 16-month prison sentence Judge Singh said he could suspend it, for two years, given Fairhurst’s previous record and 31 days he spent in custody.

But he ordered him to undergo 30 probation-run rehabilitation activity days and complete a 30-day ‘Building Better Relationships’ programme. An indefinite restraining order forbids Fairhurst from contacting or approaching his former partner, while an electronically-tagged exclusion order prohibits him from entering Sedgefield, for the next six months.