A man who circled his ex-partner making threats before trying to punch her new man a fortnight later has been jailed.

Sentencing Jack Thornhill to eight months imprisonment at Swindon Crown Court, Judge Peter Crabtree said: “She is your ex-partner, who has a right to expect to be treated with respect. You did not do that.”

Prosecutor Tom Acworth said 24-year-old Thornhill was handed a two-year restraining order in 2018 banning him from contacting the mother of his two children after he admitted assaulting the woman.

On November 29 last year the woman was in her Penhill flat getting ready to go out when she heard a knock at the front door.

Her ex was stood on the landing outside her flat. He said: “Look at you at home getting yourself tarted up.” She shut the door and, feeling scared, called her friend.

She walked out of her flats and saw Thornhill waiting for her with his bike. He followed her despite being asked to leave her alone. As she met up with her friend on the junction of Downton and Winterslow Road, the enraged ex got off his bicycle and swung it around towards the pair.

The exchange ended with Thornhill cycling back towards his ex and her friend, telling them: “This isn’t over."

Two weeks later the woman and her new boyfriend were returning him from a night out. As they sped past in a taxi they saw Thornhill, who claimed he was coming back from a night with a friend.

He confronted the couple outside her block of flats and threw a punch at her new man. He did not land the blow.

The court was told he was on a suspended sentence at the time of the incident.

Thornhill, formerly of Poplar Avenue, Pinehurst, pleaded guilty to two breaches of a restraining order and two counts of disorderly behaviour.

Susan Cavender, defending, admitted her client had not been the most mature if young men but said he had taken the break up of his relationship badly.

“He needs to re-establish contact with his children as approved by social services and he know he must not make contact with his former partner,” she said.

Thornhill had been in custody since December 14 after he was remanded by the justices. “He’s a young man who has learned his lesson from this period of incarceration. He really does understand the importance of staying away from his former partner.”

Jailing him for eight months, Judge Crabtree said: “Your victim was shocked, upset and left crying, scared for her safety and that of her friend.”

He made a four-year restraining order banning contact between Thornhill and his ex.