A FORMER soldier who said he was a trainee James Bond spying in Iraq has been given a suspended prison sentence after admitting a three-year stalking campaign.

Clive Hamilton, 31, met a woman in a pub and told her he was involved in gathering intelligence on the Iranian nuclear programme and had travelled to Iraq to work undercover.

Magistrates gave him a ten-week prison sentence suspended for two years after hearing he ignored repeated pleas to stop contacting his victim.

He even sent her a picture of his Army ID card in a bid to prove he was a real 007.

Hamilton bombarded the woman with texts before sending more than 300 Facebook messages between August 2014 and April 2017.

He accepted there had never been a relationship between him and the woman.

Hamilton, of Pendleton Place, Bognor, even tracked her down when she moved to Australia.

He told her he had gone to Iraq to gather intelligence on Iran’s nuclear programme in a bid to get a job with the security service.

Hamilton bragged he was in the officer training programme at Sandhurst despite leaving the Army in 2009.

Brighton Magistrates Court heard Hamilton bombarded the woman with text messages and set up numerous Facebook and Instagram accounts in order to keep contacting her after she told him the communication was unwanted.

He met the woman when she worked in a bar and played a few games of tennis with her.

After a falling out, the stalking started in August 2014 and carried on after the woman moved to Essex.

He was continually texting her and when she told him to stop, he moved on to stalking her online.

The woman admitted the messages were not threatening.

When she moved to Australia, Hamilton tracked down her new place of work.

He also contacted her again through her mother and the messages carried on.

Hamilton sent the woman a Christmas card and a cheque for £300 which she cashed and the messages continued when he found her email address. The woman declined to take her complaint further after contacting police, believing the messages would stop but they continued online.

The court heard Hamilton, who admitted stalking, had two previous convictions for harassment in 2012.

The court imposed an indefinite restraining order. He was also ordered to take a 50-day rehabilitation course and pay £250 in costs and surcharge.