A distraught woman found herself under arrest after her ex-boyfriend claimed she had left threatening notes on his car, a court heard.

Melissa Watts was carted off by police in the middle of the night in front of her young son, spent a night in a police cell and was on bail for several weeks.

But Michael Killick’s allegations about her were eventually found to be false.

Killick, 40, then of Butchers Lane, Mereworth, eventually came clean and this week he was jailed for 14 months after admitting two offences of perverting the course of justice.

Prosecutor Christopher May said the couple had a difficult relationship which lasted for about 20 months. She finished with him in the summer of 2014.

Killick, who has previous convictions for harassment of a previous partner, complained to police Miss Watts later left a note on his car saying: “...Thought you can be happy without me. You are going to pay.”

"Her life was turned upside down. It took a long time to return to some form of normality" - Judge David Griffith-Jones

A second note was left on his new girlfriend’s car together with a steak knife, which read: “You broke my heart you ****. Now it’s your time to pay. I will kill you for this. You will get what’s coming. If I can’t have you no other woman can. You are dead.”

“On the face it, an extremely serious threat,” Mr May told Maidstone Crown Court. “It led to Miss Watts being arrested that night and held in custody until the next day.

“She was interviewed, fingerprinted and handwriting samples were taken. She had never been arrested before. The whole experience was totally new to her.”

But an expert decided Miss Watts had not written the notes and there was a strong suspicion Killick had.

Mr May said the father-of-five had “many convictions” for offences including breaching non-molestation orders, criminal damage and harassment.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC said it was not surprising that Miss Watts was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill.

“The reality was you had written each of the two notes,” he told Killick, who has since moved to Durham, Tyne and Wear. “This was calculated, vindictive, spiteful behaviour on your part.

“Your intention was to get her into serious trouble, cause her severe inconvenience and upset her, which plainly it did. She describes the experience as one of the worst of her life.

“In short, her life was turned upside down. It took a long time to return to some form of normality. Her son, aged seven, experienced his mother being carted off and away from him in the middle of the night.

“For all this you bear a heavy burden of responsibility. Given your history and the nature of the offence, I take the view a sentence of immediate imprisonment is demanded. Nothing less will do.”