A blackmailing drug addict repeatedly trapped his ex-girlfriend inside cars before unleashing a campaign of violence and extortion attempts.

Aaron Thornton, from Margate, drove his former partner around east Kent for hours, delivering sporadic beatings and hurling insults.

The 34-year-old bricklayer also bombarded her workplace and mobile phone with threatening texts and financial demands.

He has now been jailed for two years and 10 months.

Prosecutors told Canterbury Crown Court how Thornton rang her workplace about 25 times in one day in early January and texted her on 20 occasions in two hours.

“I’m coming for you, watch, money in the bank now or I’m coming back there - you will see how dangerous I am,” one text read, the court heard.

Thornton banged on her front door, made 26 further phone calls and sent other threatening messages, prosecutors said.

When she agreed to meet Thornton the following day, he entered her car and said “just drive, drive”.

Thornton “squeezed her hand so hard it hurt while making comments about her and her new partner,” Max Hardy, prosecuting, said.

"You are a bully, you are someone who thinks the law doesn't apply to you..."

When she tried to escape, he spat at her and grabbed her face, saying “shut your mouth”.

Mr Hardy explained the bully slapped her eight to 10 times and said: “I want to hurt you so much more - you’re lucky.”

The court heard Thornton delivered a blow to the back of her head which caused swelling, prompting her to scream for help.

After the ordeal, she received a further 25 texts, some calling her “a skank”, with another reading: “I hope you die.”

Later the same month, Thornton phoned asking for money. When they met, he drove her around for an hour and a half, the court heard.

When she tried to leave the vehicle, he pulled her in, punched her in the ribs, smashed her face into the gear stick and slammed her head against the window, Mr Hardy explained.

“Some of the hair was pulled out of the left-hand side of her head,” the prosecutor continued.

After she handed Thornton £100 he threatened to kill himself and announced he didn’t wish to go to prison.

He was soon arrested in Sandwich.

His victim told officers: “His actions are escalating. He doesn’t usually mark my face. I’m scared one day he will kill me.”

Prosecutors initially accused Thornton of two counts of kidnap but the charge was asked to lie on file.

Thornton, of Hatfield Road, admitted two counts of common assault, blackmail, and putting a person in fear of violence by harassment before a trial.

His lawyer Kerry Waitt explained he was a qualified diamond driller and bricklayer.

And since being held on remand for 174 days he had participated in numerous rehabilitation programs, earned enhanced prisoner status and become clean from drugs, Mr Waitt added.

He said Thornton’s thinking became "addled by abuse of drugs which contributed to his behaviour”.

Handing down a five-year restraining order, Judge Catherine Brown told Thornton: “You are a bully, you are someone who thinks the law doesn't apply to you.

“This was conducted intended to maximise fear and distress. “