Bridgend county domestic abuser jailed again months after being released from 10-year sentence

A repeated domestic abuser has been jailed again.

Craig Paul Thomas, 42, repeatedly threatened his girlfriend with violence and threw a plastic sports bottle at her face just months after being released following a previous 10-year jail term.

Thomas had been imprisoned in 2013 for beating an ex-girlfriend in Cardiff with hammers and forcing her to eat photographs of dead relatives.

He began another controlling relationship after being released in June, dating a woman he had first met in 2018 when he had spent six months out of prison before being recalled for breaching his licence.

Thomas admitted causing actual bodily harm and engaging in controlling coercive behaviour against the woman between July and September this year in Nant-y-moel, Bridgend county.

A previous hearing at Cardiff Magistrates' Court heard Thomas had "nowhere to stay" when he was released earlier this year, having been banned from returning to Cardiff to protect his previous victim.

Prosecutor Mike Curry said Thomas went to live with the woman he met in 2018 following his release, "with her consent".

Mr Curry added: "Initially, things were good but he was only due to be there on a temporary basis, which turned out to be permanent. The longer they were together the more things started to go downhill."

Thomas assaulted the woman with a plastic sports bottle whilst she was driving him back from an appointment in Swansea in September.

The incident happened after Thomas threw the cellophane wrapping out of the window and the woman made a comment about it. He threw the bottle at her.

Mr Curry said: "He's bound to know it will strike her in the face and it does, causing swelling and slight bruising. They pull up at a shop nearby and some ice is obtained."

The court heard Thomas' controlling behaviour included repeatedly threatening the woman with violence, demanding she prove where she was and whom she was with, and checking her phone.

Defending Thomas, Vaughan Britton said the victim had written an email following his arrest saying he had been "the man she wanted to marry" during the first month he lived with her but he had then "gone back to his [old] ways".

The solicitor added Mr Thomas had used the time since he was remanded in custody in September to "develop insight" into his issues.

Mr Britton added: "He already has a diagnosis of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and perhaps that has a direct link to that sort of controlling behaviour."

District Judge Steve Harmes handed Thomas consecutive prison terms of six months for coercive behaviour and three months for ABH.

The judge also imposed prosecution costs of £100 and a victim services surcharge of £187.

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