Arsonist burned ex-partner's contraceptive pills

Alex Hobbs split with Amanda Elmes but would go to her home in Sarisbury Green to pick up their children.

Marie Fittall, prosecuting, said Hobbs, 33, had been there on January 7 and noticed an ashtray in the bedroom.

She said: ‘He assumed somebody had stayed over.

‘He sent an awful lot of messages, asked about the ashtray saying he noticed.’

Ms Fittall said he then called the victim.

She said: ‘He then went on to say he burned all of her contraceptive pills.’

The victim later found the pills burned in her back garden.

Ms Fittall added: ‘Three days later Mr Hobbs attended her address.

‘He had a dumbbell bar with him, he didn’t have the other bits, it was the metal bar.’

She added: ‘He was shouting to her about her boyfriend and that he would kill the boyfriend.’

The court heard two children were in the house at the time of the incident.

Dad-of-two Hobbs, of Gosport Road, Fareham, pleaded guilty to using violence to secure entry on January 10, arson on January 7, sending a threatening message on January 7 and possessing an offensive weapon – the dumbbell bar – on January 10.

Hobbs, dressed in an open-neck white shirt, appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court.

Kate Watts, defending, said: ‘Emotionally, he’s not in a good place at the time and I think a report maybe able to shed more on that.’

She added Hobbs suffers from anxiety, depression and alcohol misuse.

District Judge Anne Arnold adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report.

She said: ‘I’m going to adjourn the case until February 18. I’m leaving all the options open.’

Hobbs was bailed not to contact his former partner except for through his mother to arrange contact with his children.

He will be sentenced at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on February 18.