A HALESOWEN businessman accused of organising a hate campaign against his former girlfriend that ended with her car being firebombed has maintained to a jury he had "never asked anybody to do anything in a violent and destructive manner".

Robert McNaughton stressed: "I have never paid anyone in my life to do any damage or to cause harm to anyone in a business or personal sense. Never."

The 51-year-old is alleged to have recruited two men to carry out frightening attacks on the Halesowen home of Sharron McCann after she ended their seven-year relationship.

But McNaughton, who ran a waste disposal business, told the jury he had walked away from the mother-of-two because she had problems with prescription drugs, alcohol and money.

"I ended the whole thing," McNaughton, of Tenter Drive, Halesowen, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

He said their romance had deteriorated "quite badly" adding, "It was very much tit-for-tat. We were swapping insults."

But the prosecution claims McNaughton was "driven by resentment" after his relationship with Miss McCann broke down and he arranged for windows in her home to be shattered.

Windows in cars parked outside the property were also smashed while red paint was thrown over vehicles and against the front door of the house.

The unpleasant and terrifying string of attacks ended with a firebomb exploding inside a parked Vauxhall Corsa that was completely destroyed - with flames spreading to the front door but people inside the house were able to escape and alert the emergency services.

The car was reduced to a metal frame and one could only imagine what might have happened if the firebomb attack had been carried out in the early hours instead of late evening - Peter Arnold, prosecuting, said.

McNaughton who, the court heard, was jailed for contempt of court over a business issue, did not get his hands dirty in the plot - having recruited two men to cause the damage.

Matthew Barker in turn brought in Joden Smith and they carried out the "nasty" attacks as McNaughton sought to get his own back on Miss McCann.

Barker, aged 42, and Smith, aged 20, both from Leicester, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal damage - a charge denied by McNaughton.

In evidence to the jury - McNaughton, who is now unemployed, said he did not open a false Facebook account to cause embarrassment to his former girlfriend claiming that was done by a Romanian who had fallen out with a member of her family.

"I certainly wasn't the one," said McNaughton who maintained he ended his relationship with Miss McCann because her behaviour became intolerable.

The court had earlier been told Miss McCann became hysterical when the petrol bomb exploded outside her home.

She said she had ended the relationship because she thought McNaughton had been unfaithful and added that he bombarded her with messages when he came out of prison in a bid to get them back together.

The trial of McNaughton is continuing, with the jury expected to retire to consider the evidence at the end of the week.