A POLICE officer has been jailed after he threatened to send private sexual pictures of a woman he was in an abusive relationship with.

“Cowardly bully” Nathan Collings, 34, was a serving officer with Gwent Police when he hounded his victim and falsely accused her of cheating on him.

After their relationship came to an end, he turned his attentions to another woman who he used a pet camera to constantly monitor and installed a tracking app to stalk her.

Swansea Crown Court heard how father-of-three Collings, from Abertillery, had started romances with his victims after his marriage hit the rocks during Covid.

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Prosecutor Jim Davis said of the first relationship: “It was an intense one.

“The defendant was constantly undermining her and would suggest that she was having or wanted to have affairs with other men.

“He threatening to harm himself and to end the relationship.”

He added: “He also threatened to send some intimate photographs of her to everyone they knew.

“No photographs were actually sent but the threat of doing so caused his victim considerable distress.”

After the pair broke up, Collings began a relationship with the second woman whom he had met on Facebook.

He committed the offences against her while he was on police bail over the allegations against him relating to the first woman.

His second victim became pregnant and they have a child together.

Mr Davis said the defendant showed a similar pattern of behaviour with this woman and used the pet camera to keep an eye on her.

He would follow her around and monitor her movements with the tracking app.

She was also accused of being unfaithful to him.

In a victim impact statement, she said: “Nathan reeled me in.

“He was the best thing since sliced bread at the beginning and he presented himself as the good guy.”

Collings, of Diamond Jubilee Terrace, pleaded guilty to stalking, controlling and coercive behaviour and threatening to disclose a private sexual photograph or film.

He had no previous convictions and the PC was fired from Gwent Police last month after an accelerated misconduct hearing was held in Cwmbran.

Ross McQuillan-Johnson representing Collings said: “The defendant was struggling with the ending of his marriage during the Covid outbreak.

“He was overbearing in his behaviour to his new partners.”

His barrister added: “He has shown a great deal of remorse and regret.”

The court heard how Collings had spent the last six months in prison after he was remanded in custody.

Judge Paul Thomas KC called the defendant “a cowardly bully”.

He added: “You are a thoroughly unpleasant man.”

Collings was jailed for two years and six months and told he would serve half of that sentence before being released.

He was also made the subject of five-year restraining orders not to contact his victims.