Man threatened to burn down his ex's house

Thomas Jones turned up three times in one night before police finally arrested him.

Jones, 23, was convicted at Welshpool Magistrates Court in May of breaching a suspended prison sentence and a restraining order.

At Mold Crown Court yesterday he was jailed for 15 months.

Jones, 23, of Coesawdy, Newtown, was in breach of a restraining order imposed by Swansea Crown Court in February this year, when he turned up at his ex-girlfriend's house in Penybryn, Ystrad Gynlais.

Judge Niclas Parry said the restraining order was imposed after Jones had received a "remarkably lenient" suspended sentence for a similar incident in which he had hurled a brick through his pregnant girlfriend's window which hit her in the face, smashing the bones in her nose at a time when she was just one week away from giving birth to their child.

Prosecutor Frances Willmott said in the latest incident, Jones turned up in the early hours of the morning demanding to be let in. His ex-girlfriend shouted out of the bedroom window for him to stop or she would call the police.

Three times he banged on her door and each time got away before police arrived.

On one occasion he said he would do what he threatened before – burn the house down.

In her victim impact statement his ex-girlfriend said she was "scared of Tom and what he might do to myself and the children".

During the incident in November 2013, Miss Willmott said Jones had been drinking with a friend and returned to his ex-girlfriend's house. She was eight-and-a-half months' pregnant at that time.

He left but, when he returned and she refused to let him back in, he hurled a brick through the kitchen window which caught her in the face.

Her nose was shattered and required an operation.

John Hedgecoe, defending, said it was a "frustrating case" because Jones, who he described as intelligent and articulate, had made efforts to comply with court orders, attended a domestic abuse programme and carried out unpaid work.

But once again, influenced by drink, he had shown contempt for the court's order.

Judge Niclas Parry sentenced him to a total of 15 months in jail and said the current five-year restraining order would remain in place.