A 26-YEAR-OLD man who had been jilted by his girlfriend panicked when he heard she was leaving her job and moving out of the area.

Blackburn magistrates heard Stuart Michael Johnson made frantic efforts to speak to his ex through text and telephone and eventually turned up at her work despite having previously been issued with a harassment warning by the police.

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Johnson, of Grafton Court, Darwen, pleaded guilty to harassing Gemma Lang.

He was given a conditional discharge for six months and ordered to pay £85 costs and £15 victim surcharge. He was also made subject to a restraining order for 12 months which prohibits him from having any contact with Miss Lang.

Eddie Harrison, prosecuting, said Johnson and Miss Lang had been in a relationship since 2013 but she ended it in December. They kept in touch but in early January he started bombarding her with phone calls and text messages. He said: “There were 27 unanswered calls in one half hour period and over 123 texts in one very short period of time.”

Mr Harrison said despite the warning Johnson continued to send text messages although they were not aggressive or threatening. On January 18 she left work and was walking to the car park with a colleague when Johnson appeared and asked the work colleague to leave them alone. and followed her. “Miss Lang managed to get into the car park but he followed and only left when three men, who had heard her telling him to leave her alone, intervened,” said Mr Harrison. “She saw he was waiting by the exit barrier and called the police. "She has made it clear she doesn’t want to see him again,” said Mr Harrison.

Johnson told the court he only rang Miss Lang because he was worried.

District Judge James Clarke said: a conditional discharge was an unusual sentence for an offence of harassment“I have taken into account that it was a short term incident, there were no threats involved and it was a romantic pursuit rather than anything else.” he said.