A stalker who went to his ex-partner’s home armed with a lump hammer has been banned from entering Exeter for ten years.

Oliver Bishop bombarded his former partner with calls and messages before going to her house in the early hours of the morning and smashing his way in through her front door.

She was at home with two young children and was terrified as he came into the house with the weapon, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Bishop was unable to cope with the break-up of their two-year-long relationship and had previously posted an explicit image of her online.

He also used emotional blackmail by threatening self-harm, and even suicide, unless she took him back.

Bishop, aged 28, of Whites Cottages, Feniton, admitted harassment, possessing an offensive weapon, criminal damage and personal possession of amphetamine.

He was ordered to attend a 30-day Building Better Relationships course and two days of rehabilitation activities by Judge Peter Johnson.

The judge also imposed a ten-year restraining order which bans him from entering Exeter and any contact with his ex-partner.

Judge Johnson said: “You were unable to let go. You went to the house in the middle of the night and broke in with a lump hammer.

“I accept you did not intend to harm her or the children but it was an appalling error of judgment.”

Mr Gordon Richings, prosecuting, said Bishop’s ex-partner so frightened by the incident she had moved out of her home temporarily. She made a victim impact statement saying the harassment had a profound effect on her life.

Mr Simon Burns, defending, said Bishop had the hammer in his car because he uses it in his work as a bricklayer, and took it with him into the house to protect himself against another man, who he thought had moved in.

He said he had not used it to break down the door or brandished it during the incident.

He now accepts the relationship is over.