An Andover stalker told his ex-girlfriend to “sleep with one eye open” and called her almost 200 times after a relationship lasting just two weeks, a court heard.

Stephen Ferreira admitted sending the victim an “obscene amount” of text messages and phone calls and making comments of a threatening nature.

The 29-year-old had started a relationship with Chloe-Anne Ashby after speaking to her for a few weeks on Facebook on October 12 last year, Reading Magistrates Court heard. 

Hasrat Ali, prosecuting, said: “Things initially went well. Then she found over the weekend he had left a lot of his personal belongings at her house and basically moved in.

“Over the next few days, things went downhill. On October 21 they had their first argument, a verbal one. A couple of days later, she states things had escalated.”

The court heard Ferreira had slammed a cupboard door at the victim’s home and shouted: “I’m just trying to f***ing help you”.

Ms Ashby had asked the defendant to leave and blocked his number, but agreed to start speaking to him again after Ferreira met her mother to collect some of his belongings and claimed he missed her, the court heard.

Shortly after the pair began speaking again, Ms Ashby told the defendant “she could not be with him anymore”, the prosecutor said.

For the next few days, from October 24 last year to October 26, Ferreira pursued a course of conduct which amounted to stalking, the court heard.

Ms Ali told how the victim received over 100 missed calls during the next 48 hours and received two voicemails.

In one of the voicemails, played in court, Ferreira said: “Tell you one thing - sleep with one eye open mate, yeah? Because, not now, not tomorrow, not the next day, but I f***ing will and I will, I will get you back.

“So, f***ing keep your eyes peeled mate, yeah? I am laughing at you. You are a f***ing c***.”

The prosecutor said the victim received another 82 calls from a private number, one of which she answered by accident and it was from the defendant.

Ms Ashby, in a victim impact statement, told the court: “I did not know him that well, as we were not together that long, so I had no idea what he could be capable of.”

The victim, of Newbury, said she had stopped visiting the town centre, adding: “He has changed my life hugely. I think about what happened and worry about seeing him pretty much every day.”

Ferreira, of Galahad Close, Andover, had admitted stalking without fear, alarm or distress at the earliest opportunity and the court heard he had not breached his bail conditions or contacted the victim since.

Jeremy Yuille, defending, said coming to court had been a “salutary lesson” for the defendant and he had expressed remorse.

“Mr Ferreira’s behaviour very clearly crossed a boundary”, the lawyer said. “They both entered into the relationship fairly quickly.

“He had a job in Newbury, that led him to stay over, rather than perhaps deliberately moving in in the way that has been suggested.”

The defendant had left gardening equipment at the victim’s home and Mr Yuille suggested “his desire to recover property may have made him feel entitled to seek recovery of that. He was frustrated. He behaved in a way he should not have.”

District Judge Samuel Goozee, sentencing, told Ferreira he would be sentenced to a 12-month community order.

The judge said: “You did use manipulative behaviour. You refused to accept that she did not want tot have any contact with you and it culminated in the stalking offence.”

Judge Goozee described the voicemail Ferreira left his victim as “threatening and sinister”, adding it was “clearly designed and intended to cause Ms Ashby distress”.

The judge imposed 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days on the defendant and ordered him to pay a fine of £400, costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £114. 

He also imposed a 12-month restraining order which prevented Ferreira from contacting the victim and forbid him from entering the street where she lived in Newbury.