Unable to accept his 16-year relationship was over, Lee Spilsbury embarked on a terrifying campaign of harassment.

The jealous 37-year-old breached a restraining order banning contact with Nicole Rafferty, assaulted her, poured paint on her car and damaged her front door.

Maidstone Crown Court heard she obtained the restraining order in July, six months after they parted.

“The defendant had taken the separation very badly,” said prosecutor Bridget Todd.

“As a consequence he has persistently contacted her and her sister.”

Miss Rafferty had been to a concert on the evening of September 6 with her sister.

A man was walking Miss Rafferty to her flat in Chaucer Road, Sittingbourne.

Miss Todd said Spilsbury appeared from nowhere and became aggressive towards the man, swearing at him and chasing him.

"She wants to get on with her life. She feels mentally drained and stressed" - Prosecutor Bridget Todd

He then grabbed Miss Rafferty around the throat and threw her to the ground.

He walked to her door with her and demanded back gifts he had given her.

As they went up the stairs to her flat he kicked her, knocking her down and injuring her knee. She returned the presents and he left.

She had lost her phone and left her panic button at her sister’s home, so she went to her mother’s house to borrow her phone.

When she returned late that evening she could hear Spilsbury outside threatening to kill the man who was walking her home, believing he was with her.

He threw clumps of mud at her window and kept Miss Rafferty awake until 4am.

She discovered the next morning that her blue Ford Focus car had been spray-painted yellow. She also found a living room window had been smashed.

Spilsbury, of Menin Road, Sittingbourne, turned up and told Miss Rafferty it was “just the start of it”.

Her mother closed the door and Spilsbury then kicked in a glass panel.

He was jailed for 18 months after admitting breaching the restraining order, assault and two offences of criminal damage.

Miss Rafferty said in an impact statement she felt Spilsbury, who works for Teynham Construction, was still controlling her and she feared what he might do.

“She wants to get on with her life,” said Miss Todd.

“She feels mentally drained and stressed.”

Recorder Brooke-Smith said the case had all the hallmarks of someone who was obsessive and jealous. Mental stress was caused to the victim.

He renewed the restraining order for five years, including a ban on contacting Miss Rafferty’s sister.