A 50-year-old man from Whiteley has been given a suspended prison sentence after setting up a false account on a dating website to harass a woman he had been banned from contacting.
Stephen John Peters kept contacting the woman by phone, text and online despite a warning from police that she did not want any contact with him.
Peters created a false account on a dating website and maintained contact with the victim when she thought she was speaking to someone else between January 3 and February 20 this year.
Portsmouth magistrates decided the offence was so serious they sentenced Peters, of Cobham Grove, Whiteley, to four weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and he was given a restraining order which lasts until April 9, 2015.
Magistrates determined his behaviour was manipulative during the prolonged incident and that it was a sophisticated subterfuge to create another identity on dating site.
Peters admitted harassment when he appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court.
Under conditions of his restraining order Peters must not make any further contact with the woman, either directly or indiredctly, and has been banned from a road in Southsea and another road in Steep near Petersfield.
As well as the suspended prison sentence Peters was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £80 and costs of £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.