AN interim Stalking Protection Order has been handed to a Backwell man for threatening to harm a woman.

Darren Cogzell, 52, of Hyatts Wood Road, Backwell, "threatened to harm" the woman, who feared the defendant would assault her with a "corrosive substance", North Somerset Magistrates' Court was told.

The court heard how Cogzell had threatened to harm the woman to the extent that no one would want her.

The court was told: "From this, (she) feared the defendant meant assaulting her with a corrosive substance."

The interim Stalking Protection Order was made for 123 days and includes barring Cogzell from contacting the woman or inciting another person to do so; remaining in a place where he knows she is present; or using any locating device to track where she is.

The case was adjourned until July 1 for a contested hearing.