'Jealous and obsessive' stalker threatened to put ex’s new boyfriend ‘in a wheelchair’

Aaron Lewis, aged 29, started pestering his former partner within hours of being handed a suspended sentence order at Shrewsbury Crown Court in November last year.

In his stalking campaign, Lewis told his ex that her new partner "will end up in a wheelchair", and that she should finish with him because he was "better" than her new man.

He went to her place of work, standing outside and refusing to leave, and went to her home. He bombarded her with phone calls. She told police he had been calling her non-stop since his release from prison.

Lewis also messaged her on social media, making a fake Facebook account to try to get her to meet him and asking if he could stay at hers.

Lewis, who is from Telford but of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to stalking and breaching a suspended sentence order.

Kevin Jones, defending, said Lewis had been diagnosed with ADHD, and had been in custody since November.

"I would ask the court to take the time he has spent in custody into account," said Mr Jones.

Judge Anthony Lowe told Lewis: "When I read this case last night I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to activate the suspended sentence. You went away from court with me saying that if you commit any further offences you will serve that sentence. Within hours of that you went seeking her."

He added: "What worries me about what you've done is your sense of obsession with this relationship. There is a sense of jealousy about her having a relationship with somebody else. There was an inability to accept that relationship was over."

The judge told Lewis the only reasons he was not activating the suspended sentence was due to the time he had already spent behind bars, and that the public would be better protected if he had interventions from the probation service.

Lewis was handed a 12-month community order, which includes 100 hours of unpaid work, a 90-day alcohol abstinence requirement, a mental health treatment requirement and 15 rehabilitation activity days. He was also made subject of a restraining order.