A MAN has been jailed for 18 months for putting a Valentine’s card and gift through the letterbox of his ex-girlfriend.

It was the 14th time John Patrick Doherty had defied a court order banning him from having any contact with the woman who he has assaulted in the past.

He went on to shower her with text messages claiming he loved her and wanted to get back together, Victoria Hood, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

The court heard that his persistent harassment has made the former girlfriend so ill she needs medication and she constantly worries that he will come to her York home.

He had been released from prison just weeks earlier from a sentence imposed for breaking the same court order.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, told Doherty: “The only practical way of putting a barrier between you is for you to remain in custody for a significant period of time. I take the view if I don’t lock you up today, I would simply be letting down the victim of your harassment.”

Doherty, 48, of no fixed address, admitted two offences of breaching a restraining order and was jailed for 18 months. The restraining order lasts indefinitely.

Miss Hood said Doherty had 13 previous convictions for breaching the restraining order and three for assaulting her before he went to her house and put the card, some money and a CD through the letterbox last February.

In the days that followed, he repeatedly texted her telling her he loved her and wanted to meet up.

But she repeatedly told him to leave him alone and get out of her life and told police about the continued harassment.

For Doherty, Laura Addy said the breaches were “relatively low-level”, though he had a long history of breaches. She said that there were signs that he was changing his attitude because he had told her he now “wanted” to stay away from the victim, whereas in the past, he had said that he “understood” he should stay away from her.

She claimed that banning Doherty from York would help him avoid contacting the victim.