A jealous stalker has been banned from contacting his ex-partner after he fitted a tracking device to her car and followed her around the country.

Rosen Sabev sent unwanted messages to the woman after their long-term relationship broke up and followed her so relentlessly that she did not feel safe in her own home.

The 58-year-old carried on his campaign of harassment despite being arrested repeatedly and issued with bail conditions and a non-molestation order that bans him from contacting her.

Sabev has left Britain to return to his home country of Bulgaria and appeared by video link at Exeter Crown Court. A previous hearing was told that he could not travel to the UK because he undergoing gender reassignment.

He will be able to remain in Bulgaria under a suspended sentence after the judge was sent medical reports which confirmed his treatment.

Sabev, aged 58, formerly of East Devon, but now in Bulgaria, admitted stalking which caused alarm and distress and was jailed for a year, suspended for 18 months by Judge David Evans.

He was banned from any contact with his ex-partner and from entering Cranbrook, East Devon, for ten years under a restraining order.

He told him: “You were unreasonably jealous and were not prepared for her to make her own life, which she was perfectly entitled to do. His personal statement makes clear she found your behaviour intimidating and frightening.

“There is significant aggravation. Your obsessive behaviour was in breach of police bail conditions and in defiance of a court order.

“In mitigation, the material I have seen establishes that you are, and have been going through, challenging personal health issues.”

Miss Mary McCarthy, prosecuting, said Sabev and the complainant had been in a long-term relationship and had adult children but has separated in late 2021.

He began the stalking by calling and messaging her despite bail conditions not to contact her and went to her home in Cranbrook and her place of work. He also followed her in his van.

He broke a non-molestation order shortly after it was made by waiting for her as she shopped in Cranbrook. Police found WhatsApp messages to a friend in which he discussed his stalking and confirmed he was monitoring her movements.

He followed her when she went to Gloucester to meet a friend and filmed them together before sending footage to her family. She later found an Apple AirTag tracker device on her car.

He contacted her again over Christmas, 2021 before sending her a message of apology on Boxing Day. He was arrested again in January and May 2022 before the stalking ended.

Mr Lee Bremridge, defending, asked the Judge to take account of the medical reports from Bulgaria which he had forwarded to the court and to follow the proposals of a probation report which assessed Sabev as a good prospect for rehabilitation.