A MAIDENHEAD man has been jailed after sending his ex-wife a gun-assembling video, a picture of a gravestone and messages asking to pay for sex.

Darren Jones, of King Street, was sentenced for breaching a restraining order on four occasions in 2021 but his campaign of harassment began in 2019.

The 56-year-old separated from his wife in 2012 and their divorce was finalised in 2017.

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Two years later, after she began a new relationship with another man, Jones repeatedly turned up at her address.

A restraining order was made against him in November 2019 barring contact between Jones and his wife.

Having breached the restraining order, Jones was jailed.

However, he continued to communicate with his ex-wife and sent her a letter from HMP Bullingdon which contained a drawing of a gravestone and a ‘fallen angel’ poem.

On the day of his release from prison, Jones attended his ex-wife’s address -- breaching the restraining order again -- to go for a walk with his son.

Shortly after this, he sent his ex-wife a series of texts in a short timespan including asking to meet her in Maidenhead.

Alexandra Bull, prosecuting, said Jones told his ex-wife “he had money and will pay her for sex.”

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He was also accused of making racist remarks and his ex-wife’s new partner.

Jones made more sexual approaches via text on December 30, 2021, when he also sent his ex-wife a video on how to assemble a gun and told her he ‘had a gun on the way’.

The Maidenhead man was arrested on New Year’s Eve and upon being apprehended by police, he reportedly said: “I can’t believe she had me arrested. I only wished her a Merry Christmas.”

Reading Crown Court heard how Jones had 11 convictions for 23 offences, including racially-aggravated harassment.

Ms Bull said: “He has a history of disobedience towards court orders.”

Fabienne Macey, defending, explained that Jones would often feel low and start drinking before texting the victim.

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The barrister said the couple had been together since 1995 and he had a “huge feeling of loss of control and he has been unable to deal with the restraining order.”

Ms Macey said Jones suffered from PTSD after working in Angola in 2004 where he saw a young girl murdered in a diamond-mining community.

Her Honour Judge Real, sentencing, said the victim had been feeling “constantly on edge” because of Jones’s actions.

Jones was jailed for ten months for four counts of breaching a restraining order and an indefinite restraining order was made barring him from contacting his ex-wife.

Judge Real added: “The message is to stay away in the future and try to move on from this.”