A convicted stalker who has been in hospital for seven months will no longer need to complete his whole sentence, a court has decided.

Stephen Dyke, 54, of Van, Llanidloes, was given a 24-month community order in November 2022 after pleading guilty to stalking.

Welshpool Magistrates' Court was told at the time that he persistently sent abusive and disgusting messages to a woman he met online despite blocking him from her dating profile.

The prosecutor shared that the "barrage of abuse was relentless" and the woman was worried what he would do next after he ignored police requests to leave her alone.

A court hearing held in Dyke's absence on Tuesday, July 30, was told that the 54-year-old was still in hospital following a fall at his home in January.

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Probation officer Julian Davies said that Dyke had been in his home for six days until he was found by a friend.

"He was taken to hospital and underwent treatment and therapy," Mr Davies said. "And he’s still there and hasn’t been discharged.

"As you can understand nothing has been completed after that date. They have been keeping in touch with him with email. "

Magistrates heard that since November 2022 Dyke completed eight of his 15 rehabilitation requirement days and had "engaged well" with his probation appointments.

However, Mr Davies asked the magistrates to remove the building better relationships programme from the order because it is "not something that is going to be completed".

Chair of the magistrates' bench Sarah Sargent said: "We are very sorry to hear this at no fault of his own".