A serial pest has been hauled back to court for wishing his ex "happy birthday".
Carl McBride's former girlfriend has a restraining order against him and claims he's made her life miserable.
He breached the order by sending an email stating: "Happy birthday for yesterday, all the best."
The South Shields man claimed the email had been sent automatically.
However, he was convicted of harassment following a trial and his ex has revealed: "I've lived in fear of Carl for five years."
She claimed the 38-year-old had inflicted "physical, emotional and financial" abuse towards her during their time together.
Now the restraining order has been beefed up after South Tyneside Magistrates' Court heard the email caused so much distress, she'd been forced to spend her birthday at home.
A victim impact statement, read to the court, said: "I want to be able to get on with my life and be happy," she said via a victim impact statement.
"I've been having panic attacks since Car has been in contact."
The victim claimed she'd been forced to move homes "multiple times" to shake him off, adding: "I should be able to break free from Carl.
"I want him to to be out of my life forever."
Northumbria Police seized and analysed McBride's phone following the June email and a report running to 200 pages was created.
However, he denied sending Facebook messages to his victim.
McBride, of Australia Grove, was convicted of breaching the order on the email which he'd insisted was "pre-loaded" from an old online diary entry.
Paul McAlindon, defending, said while the move was "ill-judged" it was not intended to be malicious.
He added: "I don't think anyone would think as much.
"There is nothing untoward about it, he simply wished her a happy birthday."
Pleading for her new partner to also be given a restraining order against McBride, she said she feared he was now monitoring both their Facebook accounts.
However, that application was rejected but an indefinite order forbidding McBride from contacting his victim was issued.
Magistrates also ordered McBride, who receives benefits, to pay £100 compensation to his victim.
