A MAN today revealed his family had been subjected to a five-year race-hate campaign because he is married to a woman from the Czech Republic.

Mark Taylor, 35, says he does not know how he is going to be able to protect his wife, Adriana, 23, and young son against escalating violence and abuse.

Mr Taylor said: "Adriana's friends and family had suffered at the hands of neo-Nazi activists.

"We never thought it would be almost as bad over here. It's supposed to be a safe haven and a just society, but we are getting the same sort of treatment here as in the Czech Republic."

Over the five years the family have lived in Thornhill, Cwmbran, they have had the tyres on their car slashed, eggs thrown at their house and constant verbal abuse.

They are constantly met with chants of "get back to your own country", and believe they are being targeted because Mrs Taylor is from a Czech Roma, or gipsy family.

The abuse turned to violence last Wednesday, when Mr Taylor was driving his wife, their son, Jake, five, and Mr Taylor's son from a previous marriage, Mitchell, ten, to the park.

"The passenger in the car in front, who is known to us, got out and came back to our car.

"I thought it was just going to be verbal, but he started punching me on the side of my head through the window.

"I fell unconscious - Adriana said he must have hit me about ten or 12 times."

The unprovoked campaign has had a devastating effect on the family, Mr Taylor said.

"My son is terrified - he won't go out to play with the other children at the weekends now. He has nightmares and is frightened of everything.

"Mitchell's mother won't let him come to stay with us anymore because of all the trouble we've had. So I don't even know when I'll see my son again.

"Adriana hates leaving the house, and now I just don't know how I can protect my family. We are trapped in our own home.

"It's unbelievable that we don't feel safe in our own home."

The couple met in a bar in Newport when Mrs Taylor was an asylum-seeker.

Sergeant Becky Taylor, of Cwmbran police, said: "We are investigating the matter and are treating the abuse as racially motivated. It has escalated over the past year."

She said they are looking for a local man in connection with the assault.