A “JEALOUS” estranged husband broke into his wife and her boyfriend’s home and killed pet fish in their pond after ransacking their house.

Anthony Haines slashed across the couple’s faces on a photograph before stabbing a cleaver and knife into a kitchen cupboard and chopping board as a “warning”.

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The successful businessman “targeted” their house in Risca over the summer when they were away for the weekend.

Haines, 51, had been drinking in a pub in the town before he decided to launch the alcohol-fuelled attack late on a Friday night in June.

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South Wales Argus:

Anthony Haines (Picture: Gwent Police)

Newport Crown Court heard how the defendant had been jailed in the past for terrorising his wife and her new lover.

Haines and his wife spilt in 2018 and their acrimonious divorce still has not been finalised.

Laurence Jones, prosecuting, said CCTV at the house captured the defendant entering the property.

Once inside, Haines turned off electricity which disabled the camera.

Cutting the power supply also led to fish being killed in the garden pond as well as in a tank inside the property.

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Mr Jones told the court: “He went upstairs to their bedroom and took out a number of intimate objects from a bedside table and placed them deliberately on the bed.

“The defendant slashed a canvass photograph of the couple across the face area.

“A knife had been stabbed into a chopping board and kitchen cupboard.

“Mrs Haines suspected her husband immediately. She said he was jealous that she was happy and had moved on with her life.”

Reading her victim personal statement, Mr Jones said: “Since they split up, she said her husband has been making her life hell.

“Being threatened makes her fearful for her life and she believes he has the capacity to harm her.

“She said her anxiety has gone through the roof. She says once the divorce is finalised, she will put the house on the market and leave the area.”

Haines, of Tanybryn, Pontymister, Risca, admitted burglary with intent and criminal damage.

Marian Lewis, representing Haines, said: “The defendant bitterly regrets what he did.

“The incident was fuelled by alcohol.

“He would not have behaved in such a manner if he had not been drinking.

“The defendant realised when he was sober the next morning he had made a massive, massive mistake.”

Miss Lewis added how her client’s daughter had written a reference to say the defendant was a “loving father and grandfather”.

Haines had, the court was told, built up a successful business and provided his family with a “high standard of living”.

The judge, Recorder Duncan Bould, told the defendant: “Having fuelled yourself with a large amount of alcohol you made your way to your former wife and her partner’s home.

“You allowed yourself in and committed acts of gratuitous criminal damage by deliberately targeting them. Fortunately, they were not at home.

“You planted a cleaver and a knife in a kitchen cupboard and board.”

Recorder Bould added: “It comes as no surprise when your wife says in her victim personal statement that in the last two and a half years you have made her life hell.

“You’ve not only threatened her but you’ve defiled her home, ransacked her home and been abusive to her.

“You slashed across their faces on the photograph.

“You deliberately wanted to send out a message of aggression.”

Haines was jailed for 16 months and made the subject of a 10-year restraining order.

He must also pay a £156 victim surcharge after his release from prison.