A MAN who harassed and threatened a vulnerable woman has been jailed for 14 months after repeatedly swearing during his sentencing hearing.

Martin Stephens, of no fixed abode, has previously committed a string of vicious offences against his victim, including burgling her home, threatening to slash her throat and slapping her in the face.

The 36-year-old's campaign of abuse against the woman was so prolonged that she has been forced to change her name and move house, a judge at Bournemouth Crown Court heard on Thursday.

Stephens was jailed for two years at the court on May 6 2014 - a sentence of eight months for breaching a restraining order, and 16 months for the burglary - and released on licence after serving around half of the term on April 28 this year.

But on the same day that he left prison, Stephens contacted his victim by email, writing: "I can only hope and pray with all my heart that you won't tell anyone I contacted you."

The contact constituted a breach of a restraining order, which is to continue until March 2017.

As prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood outlined his previous offending as background to the most recent breach, the defendant - who appeared over prison video link rather than in person - repeatedly shouted and swore.

He then stood up and left the room, although he could still be heard shouting in a hallway before court staff muted the video link.

Mitigating for the defendant, Tim Akers said Stephens had sent the email on the day of his release from prison in order to ask for his victim's forgiveness.

"He said he has been 'eaten up with guilt' and saying a lot of things he 'shouldn't have said,'" he said.

"There are some psychological issues here."

However, he said Stephens' problems do not "explain or justify his conduct".

Recorder Nicholas Haggan QC said he had been forced to sentence Stephens without the defendant in attendance after "two outbursts".

"He clearly was extremely angry and abusive and it was not appropriate for him to continue with these proceedings," he said.

The judge said that "taken at face value" the emails sent by Stephens were themselves "relatively innocent".

However, the pre-sentence report written by the Probation Service was of "significant concern", he continued.

"The defendant has been assessed as being in a group that has high likelihood of reoffending, and even higher risk of that [reoffending being] serious," Mr Haggan said.

"He is assessed [as being of] very high risk of serious harm to the current victim, the harm being both serious psychological harm caused by fear of violence and serious physical violence."

Stephens was sentenced to 14 months behind bars for the breach.