A THUG threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend if she gave evidence against him over an allegation he’d punched her in the stomach when she was pregnant.

Damian Jones, 38, from Tredegar, later cut the woman above the eye in a terrifying attack after pinning her to a bed at her home.

Nuhu Gobir, prosecuting, said the former couple had been in a “volatile” long-term relationship.

Jones had been due to go on trial in 2019 over a claim he had struck his former partner in the stomach when she was pregnant.

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The complainant did not attend court and the case against Jones collapsed.

The defendant had intimidated her before the trial by threatening her.

Mr Gobir said: “He told her he would send the wolves.

“The defendant said to her that her life would not be worth living and that he would destroy everything she owned.

“He said he would make her life hell and kill her.”

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Jones then went to her house last summer when he wasn’t welcome.

The prosecutor added: “She began shouting at him and he grabbed her by the nose and mouth to stop her shouting.

“He pushed her on a bed and she couldn’t breathe.

“The defendant then began punching her after pinning her to the bed.

“She covered her face which prevented the blows getting through until she began bleeding heavily after he cut her above the left eye.”

Jones, of King Street, pleaded guilty to witness intimidation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The court was told the defendant has previous convictions for violence.

He was jailed for three years in 2015 for violent disorder.

It was heard in mitigation how Jones had pleaded guilty to his latest offending.

The judge, Recorder Greg Bull QC, jailed him for 30 months and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge following his release from prison.