A STALKER hounded his ex-girlfriend after becoming “obsessed” with her.

Steelworker Joseph Hancock, 32, would follow the woman around in his car, turn up at her Cwmbran home and bombard her with messages.

A judge said he had left his victim feeling “suffocated and psychologically trapped” during his relentless campaign during “a toxic relationship”.

Kathryn Lane, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court that the defendant would accuse the woman of seeing other men during their relationship.   

“The victim said she was fed up of being hounded by him,” she revealed. “He continued to bombard her with messages.”

On one occasion his former partner saw she had 36 missed calls from him over the space of just two minutes.

“There was a trip to London after the defendant’s birthday,” the prosecutor continued.

“They argued throughout that trip and the defendant blamed her on the way home and said that he'd had a terrible birthday.”

On another occasion, Hancock told the woman she was “a disgusting human being” after she tried to end their relationship of good terms.

The defendant, of London Road, Neath admitted stalking between 2022 and 2023.

His barrister Nicholas Gedge said Hancock was a father-of-two, a Port Talbot steelworker and someone who has ADHD.

“The defendant has no previous convictions,” his lawyer told the court.

“He was having mental health difficulties at the time.

“He has a much better side to him and he wishes to apologise to the court and to the victim.

“The defendant has stayed out of trouble for very nearly two years.”

Mr Gedge added: “There were trust issues on both sides.”

Judge Paul Hobson told Hancock some of his behaviour had been “disturbing”.

He added: “It was relentless and it must have been suffocating.

“This was a toxic relationship and your victim was psychologically trapped.

“You are an intelligent man and you knew what you were doing was wrong.

“Very serious distress was caused to your victim.”

The defendant was jailed for 18 months but that sentence was suspended for two years.

Hancock was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and complete a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He will have to pay £1,000 prosecution costs as well as a victim surcharge.