A MAN who contacted his former partner twice within days of being ordered by a court to leave her alone, has been jailed.

Simon Nash became violent and abusive during their short relationship and the woman was forced to seek a non-molestation order to protect her from his erratic behaviour.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the victim had been left frightened and upset as a result of Nash’s behaviour, between April and October last year.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said less than a week after the order was imposed Nash created a new Facebook account and "poked" his victim to get her attention, and three days later he tagged the woman in a photograph published on the social media site.

He said: “The victim was in a relationship with Nash for a brief period from April 2019, his behaviour soon became abusive and violent, she says that he took out a loan in her name, smashed her laptop, slashed a child’s trampoline and physically assaulted her.

“In October 2019, she made a serious allegation against him which resulted in the termination of the relationship, but she says the defendant refused to accept that and move on.

“So six days after the non-molestation order was made, the defendant poked the complainant’s Facebook page and she says the defendant would have had to go onto her Facebook profile and click the screen in order to get her attention.

“Three days later, on October 27, she received a notification that she had been tagged in a photograph on Facebook using the account name Simon Nash.

“She had blocked the defendant’s user name, so in order to connect this time, he must have created a new account to circumvent her blocking him.”

Mr Newcombe said the woman was told that the defendant had been "boasting" about going into her house while she was away and this had left her feeling frightened that the defendant will come to her home.

Nash, of Borrowby Court, Guisborough, pleaded guilty to both charges of breaching the order.

In mitigation, Andrew Turton said the 27-year-old had already spent 21 weeks in custody since his arrest and had "learned his lesson" during his time in prison.

Judge Howard Crowson sentenced Nash to 17 weeks in custody for both offences and issued a five-year restraining order.

He said: “This was a breach of a non-molestation order which was designed to give protection to your victim and we have to take them seriously.

“They are there to protect people, not only from physical attack which often they are, but also to protect them from the stress of contact from people who have caused them pain – even if it is psychological and that is really what this one is about.

“You have made contact on Facebook and you would have to view them as quite deliberate acts and the whole point was to distress her.”