Man jailed for almost four years after obsessively stalking his ex-girlfriend in Milton Keynes

Rejected Liam Gray, 38, called his ex 260 times in just one hour after their 14-month relationship ended, Aylesbury Crown Court heard.

He turned up at her house in Milton Keynes repeatedly, constantly ringing the doorbell and shouting for her.

And when the woman's child had to go into hospital, he conned his way in uninvited by claiming to be her step-father, the judge heard.

Gray even followed his ex on the school run, and one one occasion jumped out of his car and started aggressively shouting abuse at her before begging "I have 72 hours left to live, please talk to me."

In a statement to the court, the victim said: "He followed me the entire journey back to my mum's address. As he followed me, he pulled into the lane opposite me at least 12 times pretending to swerve his car into mine - getting within inches.

"He sped up, manoeuvring and slamming on the brakes on several occasions as if to encourage me to crash into the rear of his vehicle."

On the last occasion, before he was arrested, Gray arrived at the victim's front door on December 18 last year - while she was at home with her young daughter.

When he began to kick the door down, the terrified mother dialled 999 as the defendant screamed: "do not think I am scared of the police, I am running rings around them."

The court heard how Gray took himself outside "screaming and howling like a werewolf up towards the sky shouting ‘nobody will stop me, I will be back in two hours, s**g'."

Just 20 minutes after his visit, Gray left voicemails threatening that the next time he saw her she should be ready and that he was coming back, the court heard.

Police heard the "abusive, intimidating and nasty" voicemails and Gray was arrested on December 20 before he was charged with stalking involving fear of violence.

Prosecutor Michael Speak described Gray's behaviour as "aggressive, agitated and erratic."

In a victim impact statement the ex girlfriend, who met Gray initially via Facebook, said: "This has impacted every aspect of my life. On at least 30 occasions Liam has broken into my post box, removing letters with personal details.

"His conduct has escalated, I am truly afraid of what he is capable of. The regularity of his abuse had become normality for me, he knows how to manipulate and upset me.

Sentencing Gray, Judge Francis Sheridan said: "This woman was living in hell, she is living in permanent fear. I cannot believe anything more horrible than turning up at the hospital... He lied and tricked his way past the staff, pretending to be her step-father to show that he can infiltrate her life."

He added: "This is about as serious a case of stalking that I have come across. You were in a relationship for 14 months, initially meeting on Facebook and all was well. You set out to destroy her life because she wanted you out of her life because of your appalling behaviour. Your victim was left utterly overwhelmed by this ongoing harassment.

"You were doing everything you could to make this woman’s life a misery, she lived her life in fear of you. You were unrelenting in your behaviour, I think you know exactly what you were doing, you did it deliberately."

Judge Sheridan sentenced Gray to three years and nine months in prison. He made him the subject of a restraining order against the victim and banned him from entering Milton Keynes.

Grey was also was disqualified from driving for 40 months and two weeks.