Stalker mother, 38, tried to burn down ex's home after he dumped her

A showjumping trainer who hurled petrol and tried to burn down her ex-partner's home in a terrifying crime spree after refusing to accept he wanted to end their relationship has been jailed.

Sarah Jones, 38, moved into Chris Cummings's home with her two teenage girls after the pair met at a horse show, where he was showing off his high-end horsebox company.

The 37-year-old now says that allowing them to share his £600,000 North Yorkshire farmhouse was the worst decision of his life. 

Because when Mr Cummings decided the spark had gone after five years together she refused to move out of his property.

He was eventually forced to call the police - changing the locks as she and her children left.

'I bought my property myself on the back of my hard work building up my business, she had no claim to anything here,' the business owner said, as reported by the Mirror. 

'But she refused to leave. I had no choice but to involve the police and it was only at that point that she accepted she had to leave, and when she did I had the locks changed.

Read More

Moment jealous builder smashed his Transit van into his ex-girlfriend's car when she dumped him and he wrongly accused her of cheating

'Sarah would not let it go and for between six and nine months she did everything she could to make my life a misery.'

But over the next nine months Mr Cummings said Jones did everything she could to 'make his life a misery'.

She broke into his farmhouse and bombarded him with threatening messages.

He also says she spoke to his customers and spread false allegations about him and his business that he still has not recovered from.

Cummings claimed the equestrian store owner, who has recently renovated a former chemists shop in Bedale, North Yorkshire, even stole his vacuum cleaner and took his post.

And in one terrifying incident he found Jones throwing petrol around his horsebox as he stopped her from setting it ablaze.

Mr Cummings, who is originally from Turriff, Aberdeenshire, continued: 'You can’t imagine the effect it has on your life when someone is determined to try to intimidate you and ruin your business. I lived in constant anxiety about what she might do next.' 

Jones was jailed for 18 months after she admitted burglary, theft and harassment at Teesside crown court.

She did not make a plea on the day her trial was due to begin over making threats to kill, threats to damage property and assault by beating. They now lie on file.

The single mother also faces a restraining order banning her from communicating with Mr Jones.