A man in Wales has been sent to jail after strangling and hitting his girlfriend who was nine months pregnant with their child at the time.

Joshua Gray, 30, of Ladyhill Green in Alway, Newport, was sentenced to years in prison for a 'series of abuse' against his heavily pregnant girlfriend.

Cardiff Crown Court heard on October 15, that Gray abused his partner over the course of six months, between April- September 2022, and that the victim's three children were often present while their mum was getting abused.

On the occasion that led to his arrest in the September, Gwent Police were called to their residence at 1.30am where the victim told police that she had been "battered."

The court was shown pictures of a purple and black bruise that covered half the surface area of the victim's arm.

The image was described as "completely unsightly" by Recorder Owen Casey, the judge dealing with the case.

Prosecutor Hywel Davies said: "Abuses included the defendant strangling her against a wall causing her to wet herself. 

"She was beaten over and over resulting in her wetting herself.

"He told her what to wear and did not allow her to have friends, ultimately causing her serious psychological harm including conditions such as anxiety, depression and insomnia.

"She has frequent nightmares and her children need additional support in school following what they had witnessed at home."

Mr Davies told the court that Gray was often under the influence of cocaine when being abusive, and that he has previous convictions of battery and various driving offences.

Appearing in his defence, Alice Sykes gave the judge a letter from Gray's mum, explaining how she is a wheelchair user that relies on his help, thus him going into custody would negatively affect her life.

The letter also stated that he was a "different person" and that he has "received psychological help for his issues and stopped the drug use."

Miss Sykes also asked the judge to consider Gray's childhood trauma surrounding a certain incident involving his father.

It was also said that despite him having previous convictions, they were not similar, or at all related to the ones he was facing today.

However, Recorder Owen Casey disagreed with this, as, despite his previous convictions not being of a domestic nature, he was aware of numerous occasions where police were called out to incidents of his of the same nature.

Upon sentencing, Recorder Owen Casey said: "You demonstrated a pattern of behaviour that controlled her life.

"You verbally abused her, strangled her in arguments, physically abused her and even accused her of infidelity.

"Her own children were present during your campaign of abuse towards her and she was pregnant with your child.

"On top of this, your offending took place whilst you were serving a suspended sentence and it did not appear to deter you.

"You did not think people could find out what goes on behind closed doors - you thought you could get away with it."

Joshua Gray was sentenced to two years and five months imprisonment with the judge saying he posed a high risk to children and people he had relationships with.

He was also handed a seven year restraining order against the victim.