Showjumping trainer threw petrol and threatened to burn home down after ex dumped her

Sarah Jones, 38, was jailed for 18 months for bombarding her ex, Chris Cumming, with threatening messages, breaking into his £600,000 farmhouse, and causing her former partner anxiety and stress

A showjumping trainer has been jailed for a stalking campaign against her ex-partner in which she burgled his home and threatened to burn it down.

Mum-of-two teenage girls, Sarah Jones, 38, refused to accept Chris Cumming, 37, was ending their relationship. They had got together at horse shows, which Mr Cumming attended as part of his work running a high-end horsebox business. He said: “We were together for five years and she and her girls moved in with me and at first things were good.

“But as time went on I became unhappy in the relationship and I had to ask them to leave. I bought my property myself on the back of my hard work building up my business, she had no claim to anything here. 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.”

But his ordeal was not over, as he explained: “Sarah would not let it go and for between six and nine months she did everything she could to make my life a misery.” Jones broke into the £600,000 farmhouse and was accused of taking post and a vacuum cleaner. She also bombarded him with threatening messages.

Mr Cumming caught her throwing petrol around his horsebox and stopped her from setting it alight. She was last month jailed for 18 months after admitting burglary, theft and harassment on the day her trial was due to begin at Teesside crown court.

She made no plea to charges of making threats to kill, threats to damage property and assault by beating, and they now lie on file. Mr Cumming described allowing Jones and her daughters to move in with him in rural North Yorkshire was the worst decision of his life. He said: “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.

“She even spoke to my customers, sending them messages with false allegations about me and my business. The effects are still ongoing.” A restraining order now prevents Jones from communicating with Cumming until further notice.