AN angry ex-boyfriend torched three cars almost a year after the relationship ended.

Jealous Callum Farley traced his former girlfriend to her new partner’s home and set fire to the vehicles, leaving her a voicemail message telling her, “you’re going to get what’s coming to you”.

Farley denied committing the arson attacks, but a black box fitted in his own VW Polo proved he had been outside the property at Whalley Cottages , Blackrod, just after 2am on April 15 — the same time as the fires started.

At Bolton Crown Court, Farley hung his head in the dock as details of his crimes were read out and Judge Graeme Smith jailed him for 18 months.

The court heard that the arsons were the culmination of months of harassment suffered by his ex-partner.

Julian Goode, prosecuting, told how the pair had been in a six-month relationship from December, 2016. “When the relationship ended the defendant took the break-up very badly and subjected her to harassment,” he said.

He received a police caution over his behaviour in September last year, but a month later, he resumed harassing her.

“He turned up wherever she went in her car. It led her to believe he had placed a tracking device on her car, but there is no evidence of this,” said Mr Goode.

At Christmas he turned up at her workplace and even threatened to slit her throat and petrol bomb her home.

The following month he learned she had a new partner and at the beginning of April, when she met 23-year-old Farley, the encounter ended amicably.

“It led her to believe that the defendant had finally moved on with his life,” said Mr Goode.

However, on the evening of April 14, Farley went drinking with a friend and, in the early hours of the morning, drove to the home of the woman’s new partner.

He used petrol taken from his home in Barkers-De-Lane, Blackrod, and set fire to his ex-partner’s Citroen C3, along with a Nissan Note and a Honda Civic belonging to members of her new partner’s family.

The cars, worth a total of £14,500, were destroyed. Farley’s own VW Polo was found set alight in Rivington Lane later the same day.

In a victim statement, his ex-partner said she was now “terrified”. “I keep thinking he’s watching me all the time,” she said.

Farley pleaded guilty to three counts of arson.

Kevin Liston, defending, stressed that a fire service report stated that the flames would not have spread to the house where the family were sleeping.

A psychiatrist’s report on Farley found that he had “failed to appropriately deal with his emotions” but Mr Liston said he has matured since and has now gained employment with a drilling company.

Sentencing Farley, Judge Smith said: “It has been said on your behalf that this was something that was totally out of character and, secondly, that it was a moment of madness.”

However, despite lack of previous convictions, the arson attacks followed a pattern of threats and harassment aimed at his ex.

“This is an offence that can only be marked with a custodial sentence,” said Judge Smith, who also made a restraining order banning him from contacting his victim for five years.