A "JEALOUS" man who punched his former partner “six to eight times” and broke her jaw has been branded a dangerous offender and handed an extended prison sentence.

Calum Young “set a trap” for his victim in August by using his friend’s mobile phone to message her and offer to take her shopping.

He then travelled to her house in his friend’s car, stopping shortly before their destination to hide under items on the back seat.

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His victim got in, and despite Young’s friend “making eyes to the back seat”, was oblivious to the hidden defendant and the imminent “ambush”.

They travelled to shops in Cefn Hengoed before returning to the victim’s home where, getting out of the car, she asked Young’s friend - who she assumed had sent her the messages - what he had intended by his “apparent kindness”.

“That was all the defendant needed to hear,” Matthew Cobbe, prosecuting, told Newport Crown Court on Friday, adding that Young then shouted “I’m going to kill you” at his victim, who was reaching back into the car for her mobile phone.

Now out of the car, 28-year-old Young landed a “heavy punch” on his victim, who tried to scream “but couldn’t - her jaw was locked”, Mr Cobbe said.

Young then began “swinging punch after punch to [her] ribs and face”.

Mr Cobbe said the victim later recalled “the sensation of her jaw splitting”.

Young then made off in the passenger seat of his friend’s car, and the victim, who had managed to call 999, was discovered “in her injured state”.

X-rays later showed a split in her jaw “from the bottom right the way through to her teeth”.

The court heard a victim impact statement, in which she said “I can’t describe how much I’ve suffered”.

“It has mentally scarred me for life,” Young’s victim said, adding she was “constantly on edge”, suffered “vivid flashbacks” and felt “emotionally battered”.

“Calum has made my life so hard in so many ways,” she said in her statement. “I am constantly second-guessing people’s intentions.

“I don’t think I will ever trust another man.”

Stephen Thomas, defending, said “very little can be said in mitigation” but Young – who pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent – “fully understands the seriousness of this offending”.

Young felt “shame for what he did” and “hopes to move forward with his life upon his release,” Mr Thomas added.

The court heard Young had eight convictions for 22 offences, including a "road rage" incident from 2020 in which he drove dangerously and assaulted a man. He was still serving a suspended sentence for those crimes when he carried out the August 2022 attack.

Judge Paul Hobson said Young had carried out a "persistent attack" and "very significant violence" on his victim.

"I have no hesitation in concluding you are a dangerous offender," the judge told him.

Young, whose address was given to the court as Grays Gardens, Graig-Y-Rhacca, was handed a 10-year prison sentence, comprising six years in custody and an extended four-year licence period.

He was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order to not contact his victim.