A former firefighter who filmed his neighbour and kept letters she had thrown away has been jailed for “flagrant” breaches of a restraining order.

Brian Pemberton, 65, appeared at Bradford Crown Court yesterday charged with four breaches of the restraining order and one count of theft after what prosecutor Simon Batiste described as an apparent campaign of harrassment against Kathryn Crabtree, his neighbour in Ridgewood Close, Baildon .

Mr Batiste told the court Pemberton’s now-estranged wife found a bag of documents addressed to Mrs Crabtree in a cupboard under the kitchen sink – his victim had thrown them away in shared bins opposite her house.

His wife also found footage on Pemberton’s video recorder showing Mrs Crabtree and her daughter leaving their house, which was believed to have been taken about a year ago.

She also found the victim’s car key in the house – Mrs Crabtree had not seen it for three years, the court heard. Mr Pemberton was thought to have entered her driveway to take the key, which represented another breach of the restraining order, said Mr Batiste.

CCTV cameras belonging to Mr Pemberton were also found to be filming outside the boundary of his property in November 2011.

The court heard Pemberton, now of no fixed abode, has convictions dating back to 1995, including two convictions for harrassing Mrs Crabtree in 2006, when the restraining order was imposed, and 2007.

He was jailed for 16 months in March for affray, possessing an offensive weapon and escape.

Judge John Potter, who described the breaches as “flagrant”, jailed him for eight months concurrently for each offence.

He said: “You have, Mr Pemberton, in my judgement, deliberately tormented your victim in this case and her family over a long period of time. This is clearly more than one breach, involving significant psychological harm to your victim.”

Mitigating for Pemberton, Rodney Ferm said the matters for which Pemberton was sentenced yesterday pre-dated those for which he was jailed earlier this year. His relationship with his wife had broken down, said Mr Ferm, leaving him “absolutely devastated”. He said Pemberton knows he has to put the behaviour behind him and told the court there is an injunction restraining him from returning to his former home.