A man has been found not guilty of using Facebook to stalk a former partner in the first case of its kind.

Michael Hurst, 34, was taken to court by former partner Sophie Sladden, 27, after he sent her a Friend request on Facebook.

Sladden said that the couple had a 16-month relationship, and that Hurst had sent her a book and added her as a friend on Facebook after they broke up.

"It made me deeply uncomfortable and angry. I had previously made him aware that the attention was unwanted," she told Birmingham Magistrates Court. "It was unwanted attention which I don't think any person should go through."

Hurst said that once the Friend request went unanswered he made no further attempts to contact Sladden and has since stopped using the site.

"I'm no longer on Facebook. It didn't appeal to me and I didn't find it useful," he said.

"I didn't contact her I just sent her an electronic message requesting her friendship. Friendship as a dictionary definition has no relevance on Facebook. Some people have thousands of friends on there."

The court found that, while sending his ex a book was ill-advised, the Friend request on Facebook was not harassment and dismissed the charge.

"The Facebook incident has not been proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt and we therefore have to dismiss the charge, but we suggest you refrain from contacting her anymore," said Catherine Taylor, chairman of the magistrates.

Hurst was advised not to have any further contact with Sladden. The two broke up after an argument over whether to watch the Eurovision Song Contest.