A jilted husband stalked his wife who lived under the same roof as him.

Graham Turner, 50, grew jealous after his wife Yolanda, from who he had been separated for two years but who still shared their Eastbourne marital home, found another man.

The jealous former soldier then started a campaign of stalking, hiding a spy gadget in her car tracking her every move and recording her conversations with her new lover.

At a sentencing hearing at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Janet Waddicor said the former Army veteran, who admitted the offence, had gone too far in the case she described as “unusual”.

The court heard the couple had continued living together after separating, but in different areas of the house. It was during this period, March and April, that the stalking took place.

Gabrielle Henty, prosecuting, told the court: “There were no signs he wanted to reconcile the relationship and they did not interact together, seeing their child at separate times.

“But things moved on when the defendant found out Mrs Turner was seeing someone else.

“From then his behaviour became off and Mrs Turner described him as knowing things about her movements he would have no reason to know and being aware of private conversations he should not know about.”

Mrs Turner had became suspicious of a spy device when he sent an email with lyrics of a song she had been listening to in the car that day.

He had also marched out to her car to tell her she should not speak to her new boyfriend in front of their son.

He was foiled when she later found a spy gadget under her driving seat, which doubled as GPS tracker and had a SIM card which could be called, enabling him to secretly listen to her conversations she made in the car.

Turner, who worked at the same disability firm as his wife, left flowers on her windscreen outside work, and even put yellow roses, each with an individual note, all the way up the stairs to her private bedroom.

Turner, of Southern Road, Eastbourne, was arrested and admitted stalking causing serious, alarm and distress. In interview he explained he did not want his son prematurely introduced to another man.

In a victim impact statement Mrs Turner told the court the stalking had left her “questioning her own sanity”.

She said: “When I discovered he bugged my car and listened to every conversation it tipped me over and I was constantly looking over my shoulder as to what would happen next.

“I wondered if he was lying in wait to attack me or murder me.

He instilled fear in me as I did not know what he was capable of.”

Sentencing Judge Waddicor said his actions were fuelled by “obsession and jealousy” and caused her “serious distress”.

Turner was given an 18-month community order, told to do 100 hours’ unpaid work and ten days’ rehabilitation activity.

Turner, who is now living with his parents, was also given a two-year restraining order preventing him from contacting Mrs Turner except in the course of work, childcare and selling their house.