A JILTED man who sent menacing text messages to his ex-girlfriend has been warned by a judge to stay away from her - even though their homes back on to one another.

Trent O'Neil, 40, was given a 12-month conditional discharge and a restraining order forbidding him to threaten Linda MacPartlin was upheld after he admitted harassment on June 25 last year.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday how O'Neil and long-term partner Ms MacPartlin separated a month before he sent messages saying "what goes around, comes around" and "I hope you die soon, lots of love, Neil".

Aisha Wadoodi, prosecuting, said later that day, O'Neil kicked his way into Ms MacPartlin's house in Easby Court, Skelton, east Cleveland, shouting "who are you seeing?"

Five days later, as she dropped off her son at school, O'Neil appeared on a bike, and circled her while calling her a "f***ing tramp".

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, QC, told O'Neil, of Fountains Court, Skelton: "I am not the first person to say that breaking up is hard to do, but on this occasion, in the aftermath of breaking up, you went too far."