A stalker who sent his victim over 250 text messages in just three days has been jailed.
Nigel Bundock threatened to harm her and himself in a bid to manipulate her into replying.
He even tried to coerce her into a conversation by pretending he bought her a dog, police said.
The defendant, 37, was already under a restraining order and was banned from contacting the woman due to his previously abusive behaviour, police said.
Despite continually being told not to contact her, he sent more than 250 unwanted text messages between October 26 and 29 last year.
Some of the messages were jealous that she was friends with another man and in one of them he threatened to harm himself to try and get a response.
The disturbing messages continued until April 8, when Bundock called the victim 10 times.
The victim answered some of these calls and in one of them, Bundock threatened her and her friend as he had ‘nothing to lose’, according to police.
Before this campaign of harassment came to light, Bundock had a history of abusive behaviour against the victim and was made the subject of the restraining order.
He had also previously received a two-month suspended sentence for breaching the order, police said.
At Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday, Bundock, of Gravesend, Kent, was jailed for nearly two years when he was sentenced to 21 months in prison by a judge.
The defendant had pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a restraining order at a previous hearing.
Detective Constable Mark Penny of Kent Police, an investigating officer for the case, said Bundock’s behaviour was ‘alarming and entirely unacceptable’.
He said: ‘Bundock repeatedly failed to comply with orders instructing him not to contact the victim of this case and subjected her to a considerable amount of distress in the process.
‘He knew the impact his messages were having and went to great lengths to try and manipulate her into responding to him.
‘His actions were alarming and entirely unacceptable and, after repeatedly failing to comply with instructions, it is clear that a prison sentence is appropriate.
‘This type of offending should not be tolerated by anyone and I would encourage anyone affected by a similar issue to report it to us so we can provide support and help them pursue justice.’
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