A MAN sent 'vile' texts to his ex including threatening to 'burn off' her tattoo after the break-up of their relationship.

Richard Sparrey, aged 43, of Farmers Court, Droitwich, admitted harassment without violence against Rebecca Claire Gethins when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court on Monday.

The harassment which involved an average of 30 text messages a day, some overnight, happened between August 2 and August 20 during which he sent 'numerous, abusive and threatening' texts.

Jackie Rogers, prosecuting, said the couple had been in a relationship for six years before it ended in May after which they tried to remain friends but on August 2 the texts became 'abusive and threatening'. No indication was given at the hearing about what caused the change in their tone. 

There were 30 messages sent between 9.30pm on August 2 and 7.45am the following day. Miss Gethins did not reply to them until later on August 3 when she told him to stop texting her. He sent 41 messages on August 8 and 27 messages were sent on August 10 and 11 which appeared to have been 'written to provoke an emotional response'.

Mrs Rogers said during the last message on August 20 he swore and told her 'to remove a tattoo or he will burn it off'.

In a statement by Miss Gethins she accepted that messages could be 'disagreeable' after a relationship ended. However, Mrs Rogers added: "She felt the constant barrage of abuse and the vile text messages are way too far. She says the threatening nature of the messages have caused her concern and the quantity and content have caused her to feel harassed. We're dealing with a large number of text messages through the night and there are threats of violence. That takes it into the most serious category which starts at 18 weeks custody with a range of between 12 and 26 weeks custody,"

An all-options pre-sentence report will now be prepared. Sparrey will next appear at Worcester Magistrates Court on October 31 to be sentenced.