A jealous stalker has been jailed for threatening to throw acid in his ex-partner’s face during a five-month campaign of terror.

Lee Ham repeatedly smashed windows at the woman’s home in Dartmouth, threw beer glasses into her garden, and sent her more than 200 abusive calls or messages a day in which he insulted her and called her a slut.

He threatened to burn down her house and run over her teenaged daughter and even told her he would disfigure her face with acid, although he did not carry out the attacks.

He was obsessive and jealous, accusing her of sleeping with other men and barging into her home to confront a carpenter who was working there and walking off with her television in revenge for her supposed infidelity.

He told her ‘when I an off tag, your life is going to end. I’m going to ruin your life.

I’m going to terrorise you every day.’

His campaign of hate had a massive effect on the life of the woman and her daughter. She had to give up her job because she was worried Ham would turn up there and they are both planning to move away to get away from him.

Ham, aged 34, of no fixed address, admitted two counts of harassment, two of criminal damage and one of theft and was jailed for 88 weeks by Recorder Mr Jaron Crooknorth at Exeter Crown Court.

It amounts to about a year and eight months.

The judge also made a seven-year restraining order banning any contact with the woman and told him he would go straight back to jail if he broke it.

He told him: “You caused significant disruption to her daily life. You committed both harassment offences while on bail with a non-contact condition. There is an aggravating feature, which you fully accept, that you were under the influence of alcohol of drugs.

“This offending was also in a domestic context. You are assessed as a high risk to those with whom you are in a relationship and to the public.

You have responded poorly to supervision in the past.

“You were in love with the victim but jealousy got the better of you and you caused to live in fear and to leave her employment and home.”

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said Ham smashed the front window of his ex’s house at 5 am on July 2 last year when she was not at home and then sent her eight video clips of him doing it.

Ham saw her in the street shortly afterwards, forced her into his car, and threatened to throw acid in he face. He bombarded her with messages and calls, sometimes more than 200 a day, and some containing abuse and threats.

He went on to steal a suitcase belonging to the father of her daughter’Mr Dentith said that spending five and a half months in prison on remand has made Ham realise that he wants help from probation to change his life. He now has the support of his family to make a fresh start and would benefit from attending an anti-domestic violence course.