Man jailed for beating pregnant ex (From Oxford Mail)

Man jailed for beating pregnant ex

7:00pm Tuesday 24th July 2012 in News

A MAN punched and stamped on his pregnant ex-girlfriend in a “savage and pitiless attack”.

Karl Bergan, 41, beat former partner Vivien Burden in front of her three-year-old son a month after the relationship had ended.

Bergan, who has 94 previous convictions, was jailed at Oxford Crown Court on Friday after admitting actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Henry James said: “This was a savage and pitiless attack on a young mother in front of her child.” He said the pair had dated last year but split up on December 23. On January 23, Bergan went to the home of Miss Burden, who was 15 weeks pregnant with his child, to retrieve a mobile phone.

Mr James said the defendant snatched the phone from his ex and “started punching her and stamping on her”.

As he left, Bergan shouted “you’re a stupid b**** and you’re dead to me”, Mr James said.

Miss Burden, whose unborn child was not harmed, suffered bruising to her chest and upper thighs, and a cut to her face.

Bergan, of Luther Street, Oxford, denied the offence in police interview but pleaded guilty just before a trial was due to begin.

Francesca Titus, defending, said her client “accepts that this was a terrible incident”.

She said the former doorman had been using drugs since the age of 18 but had been clean of them since 2005.

Recorder Richard Hamlin jailed Bergan for 27 months.

An indefinite restraining order preventing Bergan from contacting his victim, except through solicitors, was imposed.