A soldier from east Suffolk was handed a community order after stalking his ex-partner and installing a tracking device under her car.

In Ipswich Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday was Kyren Moulsdale, of Woodbridge.

Moulsdale had previously pleaded guilty to having stalked a formed partner during July and August last year.

The court heard that Moulsdale, a Lance Corporal from Woodbridge, had been arrested for a different offence on July 11 last year, but that all charges relating to this have since been suspended.

The 25-year-old was bailed on the condition that he refrained from contacting a former partner.

The court heard that between July 11 and August 28, 2023, Moulsdale sent his former partner multiple WhatsApp messages.

One of these called her a liar, and included a photograph she and a friend where they were at the time, sitting in the kitchen of her mother’s home.

At another point, the woman became concerned that Moulsdale was somehow tracking her mobile phone, and thought it best to leave her phone at home.

However, on inspection, both she and her friend discovered that tracking devices in the form of “small, black boxes” has been installed on the undersides of their vehicles, at which point the police were called.

In sentencing Moulsdale, Judge David Pugh said that difficulties had arisen when the defendant’s relationship with his former partner began to break down.

“The breakdown of relationships can be traumatic, but however traumatic they are, there is no excuse for the behaviour you subsequently exhibited,” he told Moulsdale.

Judge Pugh handed Moulsdale a community order for the next 18 months.

This will include a mental health treatment requirement of 12 months and up to 25 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days.