A FATHER who repeatedly ignored a court order banning him from contacting his estranged partner is behind bars - but his victim says she is still living in fear.

The woman says she feels like a prisoner as she is afraid to leave her home after a campaign of harassment and violence from Middlesbrough man Lewis Wilkinson, 22.

Wilkinson bombarded his ex-girlfriend with more than 120 messages in ten days.

He had just come out of prison for an assault on the mother-of-four, and days later he barged into her home, insulted her and fled when she threatened to call police.

The following month he was "deeply unpleasant and abusive" prosecutor Harry Hadfield told Teesside Crown Court today (Friday, July 24).

Later that day, there was another confrontation and Wilkinson grabbed her by the throat, knocked her over and dragged her around by the hair as she tried to get up.

Jonathan Walker, mitigating, described Wilkinson's behaviour - all in breach of a restraining order imposed last November - as "a campaign of mild nuisance".

But Judge Sean Morris called the last attack "a very nasty, violent incident" and jailed him for two years.

Wilkinson, of Berwick Hills Avenue, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to four breaches of the restraining order, which will stay in place indefinitely.

In a statement, the victim said: "I feel like a prisoner in my own home."