STRUGGLING to accept his relationship with a woman was over a man found himself before magistrates facing four charges of breaching his restraining order.

The court heard that on the most recent breach 44-year-old Jeremy Benfield had been discovered inside his ex-partner’s house when she returned home and turned on the lights.

The court heard that Benfield, currently of North Drive, Blunsdon Abbey Park, had been slapped with a 12-month restraining order in November of last year after he was convicted for a charge of harassment against the woman.

The first breach of the order came on December 30 when she found him in her back garden where he seemed agitated and made threats to damage her back door before going round to the front of the property where he then threatened to damage her car.

Keith Ballinger, on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court that the woman had her car keys in her hand at that time and he snatched them off her before throwing them back at her.

Then on February 6 she had returned home and found him waiting for her on her driveway. She ignored him and he again made threats to damage her car and smash the windows of her house, although no damage was caused.

The restraining order was breached again on April 15 when – after receiving repeated phone calls from him – she agreed to meet him in a pub in Peatmoor. “She told him she didn’t want to see him again, she didn’t want to hurt him, but he had to accept the relationship was over,” said Mr Ballinger.

He added the final breach came over the weekend when she returned home late from being out with friends. “She went upstairs and flicked the light on and finds the defendant in her house,” he said. “He started accusing her of being with another man ad he asked her where she had been. He appears to have a key to the back door of her address, but she is not sure how as following his conviction the locks were changed.”

Giving a statement to the police she told them she was at her wits end, and revealed she had had to install CCTV outside her property in order to reassure herself.

But defending Benfield, Mark Glendenning told the magistrates that his client had a backdoor key because the woman had given it to him and said that the relationship was still on-going between the pair when the restraining order was first imposed. “For a period of time he was living at that address,” he said. “He understands that the relationship is now dead in the water.”

He added that the three earlier breaches had not been reported to the police until the most recent breach over the weekend.

Chairman of the bench Simon Wolfensohn adjourned proceedings for a presentence report to be prepared. He told Benfield: “You need to understand that a breach of a restraining order is a very serious matter and the fact there have been four breaches makes it all the more serious.”

He released him on conditional bail not to go to the Peatmoor area of Swindon or contact the complainant, and stressed that if he breached his bail conditions it was very likely that he would instead be dealt with by the crown court. He will next appear in court on May 4.