A MAN banned from contacting his ex-partner hounded her with a series of “petty” incidents which made her life intolerable.

For a month Paul Mulrooney, who was subject to a non-molestation order, bombarded his former girlfriend with abusive messages and phone calls, scratched her car and smashed its windscreen and cut her television aerial cable.

He even let himself into her home in the early hours of the morning, made himself a cup of tea and refused to leave.

“You were showing her that you were trying to dominate her,” Judge Elizabeth Nicholls told 36-year-old Mulrooney as she jailed him for 18 months.

“It was pathetic, childish behaviour.”

Anthony Parkinson, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court how Mulrooney and the woman began a relationship in June 2018 but it ended in February this year due to his cannabis use resulting in him becoming paranoid, jealous and angry.

The woman left her home for several weeks but Mulrooney would not leave her alone, turning up at her house on April 20, wanting to fight her friend who was there.

Then, seven days later, he damaged her window using a machete, continued to call her and on May 23rd, stole a bag from her car.

He returned it within a few minutes but, later the same day, threw an object at her car as she was driving, damaging the windscreen.

A court granted her a non-molestation order on May 26 but he breached it on the same day by contacting her.

Mr Parkinson said the woman found her aerial cable cut on June 23 and the next day, at 4am she returned to find Mulrooney in her home.

“He told her that he thought the house had been burgled and so entered to check,” said Mr Parkinson.

“He refused to leave and made himself a drink before sitting down.”

When she contacted the police Mulrooney, of Westbourne Avenue, Leigh, left, scratching her car as he went.

The court heard that the woman is now planning to leave the area to get away from him and his family.

Mulrooney, who has a previous criminal record for harassing and assaulting a former partner, appeared in court via a video links from prison and pleaded guilty to breaching the non-molestation order.

Callum Ross, defending, told Judge Nicholls: "He understands that he finds himself in hot water.

"He asks the court for one more chance to prove that he is capable of being a positive and productive member of society."

Mr Ross added that Mulrooney has mental health difficulties and PTSD as a result of being shot with an air rifle, which left him blind in one eye.

But Judge Nicholls told Mulrooney that his conduct towards his former partner had been "wholly unacceptable and made her life intolerable".

She added: "I hope you are aware that you have issues that lead to this offending that makes people's lives a misery, including your own and you seek professional help."