'I just want Martin to stop and leave me alone. I don't think he will ever stop'

A man who was banned from seeing his former partner turned up in her garden leaving her "petrified". The woman had already installed CCTV cameras which sent her notifications about any movement outside her home in Rhyl.

She spotted Martin Roberts from her window and was frightened because she was alone. She then saw the 43-year-old defendant smash two of her car windows.

Police were called and Roberts, of River Street, Rhyl, admitted breaching a restraining order and causing criminal damage. Today a judge at Mold Crown Court jailed him for 21 months. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here.

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Prosecutor Jemma Gordon said Roberts had already caused criminal damage to his former partner's property and been given a four-year restraining order in May last year. It prohibited him from contacting her.

She installed CCTV cameras. But on October 8 she got a notification to say movement had been detected.

She viewed live pictures from the cameras and saw her former partner Roberts in her garden, said the prosecutor. She saw him staring through a window then leaning against a nearby wall.

Soon afterwards he smashed two windows of her car which she parked a distance away from her home. The victim rang police who arrested him nearby.

In a statement she said said she feels supported by the police but feels unsafe due to her ex breaching court orders. She said: "I just want Martin to stop and leave me alone. I don't think he will ever stop."

Anna Price, defending, said her client "appreciates the stupidity of his behaviour on that day". He had been at a crisis point, been made effectively homeless and been drinking.

There is some concern he will self-harm, she added. The judge His Honour Rhys Rowlands told Roberts his victim had been "petrified" and was alone at home.

It was an "appalling state of affairs" and breaching a restraining is a concern for the court, said the judge. Jailing Roberts he added: "It seems in drink you are quite determined to do as you like and, by doing so, make the victim's life frankly unbearable.

"You are someone who is determined to make your victim's life as difficult and miserable as you possibly can when in drink.

"Such behaviour has to have consequences to protect her and deter others from behaving in a similar way in ignoring court orders."

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