A MAN showed his ex-girlfriend a replica handgun telling her “I’m not afraid to use it”.

Now, Glenn Jones has walked from court with a suspended jail sentence for his four-week campaign of hate during which he:

• Urinated all over her home;

• Called her 58 times in one day and sent threatening Facebook messages;

• Harassed and abused her as she walked to work.

Campaigners against domestic abuse have hit out at the sentence, demanding a harder line is taken in future.

The 42-year-old bombarded the woman with Facebook messages, phone calls, abuse and threats, as well as stalking her after she ended their 18-month relationship She was so frightened that she fled from her home with her young daughter and sought refuge at with a friend.

The seriousness of the offence meant he appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court via video link from jail, where he was held on remand.

The court heard how Jones, of Banister Court in Bambridge Gardens, Totton, had a previous firearms conviction after brandishing a replica Biretta outside the Swan Inn, where he was tasered by police in 2006.

Despite this, the 42-year-old was released from Winchester prison after he was given a suspended prison sentence.

In August this year, the father-of-one called the victim 58 times in one day and on another occasion he knocked on her door until the early hours of the morning.

One on occasion, he showed the victim a photo of him holding the replica gun and making the chilling threat that the was “not afraid to use it”, before sending it to her again on Facebook.

He also urinated over parts of her house, damaged fencing and machinery in the garden as well as placing his own locks on the back gate.

The month-long campaign left her fearing for her and her daughter’s safety, the court heard.

At his sentencing hearing Prosecutor Claire Ross said: “As she walked to work he was following her and he was abusive to her. She got to her place of work and mouthed the word “help” to her manager through the glass of the door to let her in.”

Reading a victim statement, Prosecutor Claire Ross said the victim was so frightened she had to look over her shoulder at work and that her young daughter keeps waking at night, in terror of Jones.

Jessica Joscelyne, representing Jones, said that these issues were due to when he was cheated on in a previous relationship.

She said: “He’s not able to trust people, becoming abusive. By his own admission he does have these issues that need to be dealt with.”

Jones admitted harassing the victim and was given a ten-week sentence suspended for two years and given a rehabilitation order of 30 days.

He was also ordered not to contact his victim, go within 100 metres of her home for two years, and not to visit her place of work and to pay a £80 victim surcharge, £150 courts charge and £85 compensation.

Hampshire County Council’s head of adult social care, Liz Fairhurst, said more should be done to stop these decisions being made.

She said: “I would be tempted to take a harder line on what I would regard as a domestic violence case.

“We should just be sending out a clear message that this sort of thing shouldn’t be happening.”

Sandra Horley, head of charity Refuge, said domestic violence and stalking are serious crimes and that they should be treated as such. She said: “It takes a huge amount of courage to testify against an abusive partner.

“It is crucial that victims feel protected by having the full weight of the law behind them when they find the strength to take their abuser to court.”

Hampshire Constabulary refused to provide a mug shot of Jones.

A spokesman said: “Because it falls so far out of our criteria for releasing convicted images we will not be issuing it.”