A NURSE was strangled by her estranged husband in the intensive care unit at a Gwent hospital, a court heard yesterday.

Her colleagues at Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital heroically tried to stop the attack by 6ft tall Royston Jones.

They desperately tried to pull the "muscular" 39-year-old man off estranged wife of 10 years Claire, eventually overpowering him along with police officers after she lost consciousness.

Jones, of Heol Helig in Brynmawr, denies one count of robbery and one count of attempted murder.

At Newport Crown Court yesterday, the jury heard he pleaded guilty to two counts of damaging property, one count of assault by beating, and one count of affray relating to incidents on the same day.

Prosecutor Michael Jones said on September 5 last year Jones had forced his way into his mother-in-law's home demanding to see her daughter, Claire, saying: "I'm going to kill her."

The defendant was in Brynmawr town centre on foot and bare-chested when he approached his wife's friend and drove off in her car, the court heard.

He went to a house of another friend of his wife and kicked the front door, threatened her and asked where his wife was, the court heard.

Prosecutor Mr Jones said the defendant was a “jealous, possessive and aggressive man” who was convinced his estranged wife was in another relationship. He said the defendant had a history of drug abuse and had taken drugs that day with the intent of killing his wife.

The prosecutor said when Jones reached the intensive care unit where his wife worked: "The defendant ran at her and rammed her - he was on top of her. The evidence you will hear from witnesses is that this defendant had his hands around her throat and there's no doubt he was trying to kill her by strangling her.

“Other members of staff tried to pull this defendant away. He was too strong however and continued to try to kill her.”

One member of staff tried to hit the defendant on his back with a chair, while a consultant was kneed in the head when “heroically” trying to stop him.

Mrs Jones was dragged into another room by her colleagues but the defendant came after her again and put her head in a headlock, "effectively in a choking mechanism", the prosecutor said.

Her face turned "blue", she lost consciousness and was frothing at the side of her mouth.

The defendant told staff he had hepatitis and would bite them, the prosecutor said. He also said he had a grenade. He was eventually “overpowered” by staff at the hospital and by the arrival of police.

Officers said the defendant had told them: "I'll do two years for this. The court better not let me out or I'll finish the job. I won't be in jail forever."

Mrs Jones suffered bruising to her neck, swelling to her eye, and had difficulty swallowing as a result of the incident.

When interviewed by police the following day, Jones refused to answer any of the questions put to him.

The prosecutor added: "Were it not for the heroic intervention of staff at that hospital, he would undoubtedly have succeeded (in killing her)."

The jury heard a recording of a phone call between a Gwent police officer and Claire Jones in the seconds leading up to the attack, before screams could be heard. In another recording heard in court, a staff member told police that patients at the intensive care unit were “terrified” as the attack unfolded.

Proceeding.