A man stalked his ex-girlfriend after she ended the relationship, repeatedly turning up to harass her, a court heard.

Jason Knox, 46, bought Dawn Holsgrove a car and even lied to her that his son was dead in an attempt to gain her sympathy.

He already had a conviction for wounding a girlfriend with intent in 2008, for which he was jailed for seven years.

Ian Foinette, prosecuting, said the couple met in about May 2012 and soon afterwards Knox moved to live with her in Chatham.

The relationship became tempestuous with excessive drinking and she finished it towards the end of last year.

He sent her flowers and then turned up at her home and gave her a Vauxhall Corsa car.

"He said it was for the years of distress he had caused her," Mr Foinette told Maidstone Crown Court.

"She rejected it but he insisted she had the car. She made it clear they were not getting back together again.

"A couple of weeks later she received a text saying his son was dead. She phoned him to offer sympathy and support. He was crying and distressed.

"She went to see him. She spent the next three days with him. Towards the end of this period he changed and appeared as if the death had no effect.

"You plainly knew your behaviour would harass, distress and alarm" - Judge David Griffith-Jones QC

"She became suspicious and made enquiries with his family. She discovered it was a lie and his son was not dead at all."

On September 29, she arrived at work at a supermarket and Knox met her and demanded the keys to the car. He lunged at her as she screamed to attract attention.

He grabbed her wrist and twisted it. She continued screaming and he eventually left.

A few days later she was in Chatham when he grabbed the keys to the car from her.

She went with a friend to a pub in Rochester and Knox turned up. They moved to another pub and he followed them there.

Mr Foinette said the victim suspected he had been tracking her through her iPhone.

He returned the car to her, leaving it outside her home. She drove it near to his home in Tadburn Green, Chatham, and put the key through his letterbox.

He later accosted her at a petrol station and was arrested.

Knox was sentenced to 16 months after admitting stalking.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC told him: "You plainly knew your behaviour would harass, distress and alarm. It would only be increased because she knew your history."

Despite being told Miss Holsgrove had visited Knox in prison, the judge made an order banning him from going within 100 yards of her home.