A CONTROLLING boyfriend who strangled his partner with an electrical cord, threatened to shoot her and threw a Christmas tree at her was locked up.

Marcus Bailey’s campaign of domestic abuse against his now ex-girlfriend was described as “tyrannical” at Newport Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, June 6).

As well as stamping on her head, the 20-year-old also “belittled her in terms of her appearance” and deleted her social media accounts.

Alison O’Shea, prosecuting, said: “The parties were in a relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.

“It was a volatile relationship and one which caused the complainant’s mother some concern.”

South Wales Argus:

(Marcus Bailey)

Bailey, of Dewstow Street, Newport, admitted controlling and coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and dangerous driving.

The court heard the couple were searching for missing pets when the defendant dragged her to the floor before throwing the Christmas tree at her.

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Mrs O’Shea said: “There were then telephone calls from him threatening to burn her house and her car – she had returned to her mother’s address.

“The young lady is in employment and he would go to her place of work and he threatened to shoot her.”

Judge Richard Williams heard how the pair reconciled but it wasn’t long before the victim was attacked again.

Mrs O’Shea said that after arguing, Bailey grabbed his ex-girlfriend by the hair and poured a drink over her face.

She added: “He then put an electrical cord around her throat so that she couldn’t breathe.”

The court was told the pair split up again before they got back together once more and spent the night at a hotel.

But the complainant was again assaulted just after they check out when he bumped her head on a kerb after they rowed in his car.

In her victim impact statement, read to the court, she told how: “I had always been confident. These were the worst nine months of my life."

Mrs O’Shea said Bailey had 26 previous convictions – serving a custodial sentence in 2016 for dangerous driving – and had previously been made the subject of an anti-social behaviour order.

Ruth Smith, for the defendant, said: “His best mitigation is his early guilty plea.”

She added that Bailey had found school difficult and fell in with the “wrong crowd”.

Judge Williams told the defendant his treatment of his former girlfriend was “tyrannical” at times.

He added: “You strangled her with an electrical cord and stamped on her head.

“The victim’s impact statement was poignant. Your behaviour has had a catastrophic emotional effect on her.”

The judge locked him up for 30 months and imposed a five-year restraining order not to contact the complainant directly or indirectly.