A JEALOUS ex who bombarded his estranged partner with hundreds of emails, text messages and phone calls has been locked up.

Karl Leighton begged to be taken back during some of the contact - but became abusive and aggressive in others.

Police described the 29-year-old's behaviour as "erratic and obsessive with little signs of improving".

Prosecutor Rebecca Brown told Teesside Crown Court that it was a case of "cyber-stalking" because Leighton had hacked into the woman's email account.

He could tell when she had read his messages and even knew what takeaway food she had ordered one night, the court heard.

In just one month, Leighton left more than 200 voicemail messages and hundreds of texts and emails, Miss Brown said.

The woman blocked his telephone number, but he used a different mobile to get around the move and threatens to stab his ex.

"She became frightened for her safety," said Miss Brown. "She had seen him twice - once when he threatened to go to her place of work.

"They had been in a relationship for about three years, but they split up in early May due to controlling behaviour and violence.

"She describes how he had been prosecuted for assaulting her and more recently had not been letting her out of the house, taking her keys from her, not letting her use Facebook or social media, stopped her seeing friends and allowing her to see her mother just once a week.

"She telephoned the police when she received a call threatening to stab her if the defendant saw her with another man."

The court heard that Leighton was prosecuted for assault and criminal damage in 2016 when he grabbed the woman by the throat, hit her to the side of the face and punched a hole in a bedroom door.

Later that year, he was twice in court for harassment for sending threatening text messages and waiting outside her children's school.

Martin Scarborough, mitigating, said: "He accepts he is responsible for things turning sour, and that he should allow his former partner to move on with her life."

Leighton, of Church Street, Hartlepool, admitted stalking, and was jailed for 32 months after Judge Howard Crowson told him: "This was frightening and persistent."