A ‘chaotic and aggressive’ man dressed up as a Jedi and went to his ex-partner’s house, banging on the door and windows, and using a megaphone to try and get her attention.

Martyn Robert Austin waited for two and a half hours outside her home, and said he was “practicing his Jedi manoeuvres” while she refused to let him in.

During the campaign of harassment, he also wore a Ghostbusters outfit “to make people happy”.

On another occasion, he was wearing a kilt, jock strap and leather jacket, and bent over to show his bare bottom to the occupants.

He was also found with smoke grenades, a samurai sword and combat knife in his car.

Austin, of no fixed abode in the Devizes area, was jailed for a year at Swindon Crown Court last week after being told by the judge that “this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated”.

The court heard that Austin had been in a custody dispute with his ex-partner at the time.

Family court proceedings allowed him to see his son every two weeks, the defendant said in a police interview.

But after the harassment began, his former partner felt she had no choice but to take out a non-molestation order – a court order that prevented the 48-year-old from contacting her.

The next day, Austin went to the house in Swindon and put a copy of the order on their doorstep, inside an envelope that read: “Do you really think this means anything to me, I haven’t even read it.”

Among the campaign of harassment that the defendant mounted over a week in May 2021 was turning up to the address wanting access to the son whilst wearing various costumes.

In one case, he turned up to the house wearing a Jedi costume and after knocking on the doors, waited outside for two and a half hours. During that time “he was outside with his lightsaber practicing his Jedi manoeuvres”, he told police.

The victim described Austin “running around like a lunatic, possessed, with a multi-coloured stick”.

On another occasion, police were called and arrested him, and when searching his vehicle found two smoke grenades, a samurai sword and an attached combat knife.

He also used a megaphone to shout and swear – although he told police he simply used it to say goodbye to his son.

In unrelated cases, Austin was found with a hunting-style knife in Devizes Market Place a month later, and spread his own faeces on a custody cell door at Melksham police station in July last year.

“She felt so unsafe in her own home that her sleep pattern was non-existent,” prosecutor Tim Akers said.

“The disguises the defendant would wear were also particularly troubling. She describes the situation as being unbearable, embarrassing and belittling.

“She goes on to say that she’s changed as a person.”

In mitigation, Richard Wayman highlighted that Austin had not been in trouble before the breakdown of this relationship.

“One would hope this is a defendant that won’t come before the court again, given this is a very specific set of circumstances that have led to this offending.”

He urged Judge Jason Taylor QC to give a suspended sentence, and if not “to impose the least sentence possible”.

But the judge felt it was too serious to not result in immediate custody. He said: “Your behaviour was unpredictable and strange, and it clearly bothered other neighbours.

“It is clear your partner has found your unstable and erratic behaviour incredibly difficult. She must have felt that she was in a never-ending nightmare which must have drained her.

“My only hope is that the custodial sentence you will receive today will reinforce to you that you have to go about this in the right way, otherwise you are just going to end up in custody time and time again.

“Given the risk you pose and the conclusions of probation, I take the view that it would be quite wrong to suspend it. I would take the view that appropriate punishment could only be met by immediate custody, and you need to understand this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.”

Having previously pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing a bladed article, one count of harassment and one count of criminal damage, Austin was jailed for a total of 12 months.

A 7-year restraining order was put in place and the weapons were forfeited and destroyed.