A DRUNKARD who made his ex-girlfriend's life a misery after they split up has walked free from court so he can get help for his alcohol problem.

Keith Gorse - sporting a T-shirt emblazoned with "lean mean drinking machine" in the dock - was given a suspended prison sentence with supervision.

A judge told him: "It will be hanging over you for two years to keep it at the front of your mind and to see if anything can be done about your drinking."

Gorse, 33, admitted breaching court orders designed to stop him pestering his 38-year-old former girlfriend three times in June and July.

Teesside Crown Court heard how he hid in the loft of her home, secretly slept in her shed and repeatedly turned up on her doorstep after they split up.

Christine Egerton, mitigating, said: "He was aware she had a new boyfriend and he went around there in drink. That's a problem he has.

"He has been in custody since July. The time on remand has allowed him to come to terms with with the end of the relationship."

Judge Peter Fox imposed a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years, after telling Gorse: "You might have begun to learn your lesson on remand."

The court was told that the couple's ten-year relationship produced three children, but was "volatile and turbulent" with a number of separations.

A non-molestation order and a protection from harassment order were imposed last October, and a restraining order put in place this June.

Gorse, of Baden Street, Hartlepool, breached the terms of the first two orders by going to the woman's home onJune 17 and 18 and July 8.

On one occasion he told her that her new relationship would not last, and added: "I'll make sure of it", said Sarah Mallett, prosecuting.

He warned her: "I'll be outside your house at ten o'clock, and if I don't put a knife through him, I'll put one through you. I'll be here tonight."

Miss Mallett said there were earlier occasions when Gorse was found hiding under Miss Williamson's bed, in a wardrobe and the loft.

In a two-week spell in January 2009, he visited her home nightly, knocked on doors and sent text messages.