A foul-mouthed, violent abuser left his former teenage girlfriend so traumatised she suffered nightmares in which he appeared as a demon, a court heard.

Jayden Prus, from Dover, terrorised the 17-year-old when she repeatedly tried to end their relationship.

Over a period of five months, the 24-year-old subjected the girl to both physical and emotional abuse in the form of assaults and vile derogatory remarks.

He also threatened to kill her once out of prison, warning he had an axe and she would "f****** die in pain", Canterbury Crown Court heard.

"This made her feel there was no hope and the defendant would come after her for years to come," said prosecutor Matthew Ness.

The victim blocked his phone number and from contacting her on social media – but Prus used his mum's phone and her Snapchat account to continue his tirade.

"She described herself as being scared at what he would do and it was that which precipitated her informing police," added Mr Ness.

"She believed him to be genuinely capable of violence and had the capacity to kill her."

Prus, of Prospect Place, was finally arrested in June - but only after a rooftop stand-off in which officers were subjected to violence, threats and racial abuse.

He later pleaded guilty to sending a menacing or offensive communication, assault on an emergency worker, racially aggravated harassment, two offences of battery and two of criminal damage.

But despite a judge branding his behaviour "despicable, obnoxious and foul", Prus was spared jail at his sentencing hearing on Friday.

Taking into account the four months Prus had already spent on remand, Recorder Thomas Moran said a community-based punishment offered better protection to both the public and any future partners than a further spell behind bars.

The court heard Prus and the victim regularly argued during their one-year relationship but her attempts to break up with him would always fail and be met with abuse.

On one occasion, a simple request for him to return her bus pass resulted in him slapping her around the face, and later while on a dog walk he grabbed her in a bear hug before punching her in the eye, said the prosecutor.

Although their eventual split came as a result of his infidelity, Prus would not accept it was over and bombarded the teenager with abusive and threatening texts.

"She did genuinely believe he may come round and kill her," said the prosecutor.

"In one message he said 'I'm going to kill you after I come out of prison. I'm going to kill you and make you f****** die in pain'.”

Using his mum's phone and Snapchat account, Prus made further threats, warning his frightened ex-girlfriend: "Call the police, I'm going to kill you. I've got an axe."

The court heard she was left in a hypervigilant state and suffering from intrusive thoughts, panic symptoms, and nightmares "of being in the same room as him and him appearing as a demon".

Mr Ness said an attempt to arrest Prus at his family home on June 7 took several hours after his stepdad greeted officers with the words: "He is going off on one. He is going to be angry.”.

One constable later described how the vitriol he was personally subjected to during the stand-off consisted of as many as 15 different racial slurs and was the worst he had experienced in his three-year policing career.

Not content with being both verbally and physically abusive, Prus then spat in a police van and urinated over his custody cell floor.

"In one message he said 'I'm going to kill you after I come out of prison. I'm going to kill you and make you f****** die in pain'…”

At the time of his offending, Prus was subject to a community order for a previous assault on a police officer.

But Phil Rowley, defending, told the court the defendant was now "very well motivated" to comply with any court order that gave him the opportunity of rehabilitating himself.

Passing sentence, Recorder Moran said the fact Prus had already served the equivalent of an eight-month jail term was "the crucial factor" in deciding to suspend a 12-month jail term for a year, with a condition he undertakes 40 rehabilitation activity sessions.

He told Prus that such an "intensive" punishment would "target the issues" and be "much better for the public and, in particular, any future partners you may have".

"You did not benefit from the best start in life and managing your autism effectively has never really been achieved," added the judge.

Recorder Moran also praised the victim's courage and banned Prus from having any contact with her for seven years.