A businessman has gone to prison after sending a former lover a stream of Bible verses - in defiance of a court order.

Luke Petty, 31, had been remanded to prison for breaching a restraining order which the victim, a mum-of-four had requested from a judge.

But within days of getting the order, which forbade him from contacting his vulnerable victim, the ex-lovers began swapping Facebook messages.

During the exchange she wrote: "My life is over...it's no joyride."

Petty, who owns removal company, Weald Removals, replies with a biblical reference about how God could make her paths straight.

But the victim retorted: "I don't want straight paths!"

During the hearing at Maidstone Crown Court the mother, who was sitting in the public gallery, collapsed and had to be taken away and received first aid treated.

The hearing was adjourned overnight but she never returned for the rest of the sentencing hearing.

Petty, of Sandhurst Road, Tunbridge Wells, had received a suspended sentence in November 2021 for making threats to firebomb his victim's home - and also sent photographs of a jerry can.

Petty himself was the victim of an arson attack in January 2019 when a van, a lorry and a storage unit were torched at his firm Weald Removals, which was then based in Sutton Valence.

Now he has admitted breaching both the suspended sentence and restraining orders and received an immediate 21-month jail sentence.

Prosecutor Trevor Wright told how Petty wrote to his former lover: "I love you so much. Never expected to be stabbed in the back.

"Don't know what I have done to deserve it. If you want to talk you will have to have the order removed."

Petty, who had been in a relationship with the victim for two years, then made a number of religious references after telling his former lover: "That through His (God's) power and mercy"...we find understanding.

"He has a plan for your life. Through him everything is possible."

She replied: "I'm in a ****** place. I will be dead in a matter of five years if things continue.

"I am a total idiot, I am a doughnut. I go to the quieter churches where I have peace."

Petty replied: "God can direct and protect you" before adding: "Romans 15 v 13 and Proverbs 3 verses 3-6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding."

He later wrote Jeremiah 9 v 11 where God promises to make paths straight.

But Judge Philip Statman told him that his defiance of the court order was "lamentable" because he had "cocked a snook" at the court.

He added that it wasn't for a court to "form a judgment on religious matters."