A TOXIC lover who stood outside his ex-partner’s house and tried to break in while she was in the bath has been jailed.

Cameron Burgess, 33, threw stones at the woman’s window and shouted at her to come downstairs and confront him.

Ipswich Crown Court heard he arrived at the property in Colchester at about 7.35pm on July 8 last year and relentlessly called her mobile phone until 10.30pm.

It came despite a restraining order being imposed on Burgess banning him from making any form of contact with his ex-partner due to a restraining order.

Gazette: Frightening - Cameron Burgess ignored a restraining order banning him from contacting the victimFrightening - Cameron Burgess ignored a restraining order banning him from contacting the victim (Image: Essex Police)

Judge Martyn Levett said: “She was in the bath at the time. You tried the door handle, you shouted abuse and started throwing stones at the window.

“After that, at 8.30pm, for a further two hours you made 18 telephone calls from a withheld number.”

Hector MacLean-Watt, prosecuting, told the court Burgess would continue to make illegal contact with his ex for another two months.

But David Tremain, mitigating, said there were elements of the contact being “two-way”, with previous instances of the victim flouting the restraining order herself.

Gazette: Sentence - Cameron Burgess appeared before Ipswich Crown CourtSentence - Cameron Burgess appeared before Ipswich Crown Court

“There had been, in fact, overnight stays in hotels and using withheld numbers to contact each other without falling foul of the requirements of the restraining order,” said Mr Tremain.

The barrister added his client is “a man with significant difficulties with controlling his impulses” and that being contacted by his ex-partner was a temptation which was hard to resist.

Burgess, of no fixed abode but with links to Layer de la Haye, admitted breaching his restraining order.

The court heard he has 35 previous convictions for 65 offences, including other incidents involving female victims and harassment.

Judge Levett said: "It is an unenviable record."

Burgess was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment but, having served time in custody while on remand since February, he is due to be released in August at the halfway point of the sentence.

A new restraining order is expected to be drawn up in due course.