A JEALOUS Oldbury man who twice attacked his pregnant partner after seeing red over text messages on her phone has been locked up for a year.

36-year-old Thomas Cleveland was told by Judge Dean Kershaw: “I have absolutely no doubt you are a bully – a man whose jealously controls his actions.”

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told that at the time of the two attacks, Cleveland was the subject of a suspended prison sentence – imposed for violence against the same woman.

He first became angry, said Gerald Bermingham prosecuting, after challenging his partner about the text messages and he slapped her face breaking her glasses before punching her about the head and body.

Then, less than three weeks later, he grabbed her by the face before hitting her over the head with a plastic bottle containing frozen water.

Mr Bermingham added that on both occasions he was in breach of the suspended sentence which had been imposed for earlier violence against his partner.

Cleveland, of Eva Road, admitted the two assaults and breaching the order and the judge ruled only immediate custody was appropriate for the crimes.

He jailed Cleveland for five months for the assaults and for a further seven months for the breach, and also barred him from having any contract with the woman for two years.

Naomi Nelson-Cofie, defending, told the court that the only offending on Cleveland’s record was for violence against his partner and she had told him she wanted their relationship to continue.