A bully who subjected his pregnant partner to repeated violence was told he never learned the ‘playground rule’ that you ‘never, ever hit a woman’.

One of Curtis Halsey’s assault saw the woman’s baby bump hit a sink, while in another attack he threw the contents of a bin at her.

Oxford Crown Court heard that, later, the 25-year-old had grabbed her by the t-shirt as she sat on a sofa in the home they shared in Thame and she had to rip the clothing in order to get away.

Earlier this year, on January 9, she was driving with him when – in ‘annoyance’ at her – he punched her to the side of the head.

Later that month, on January 21, he punched holes in a door at the flat they shared and made what judge Recorder John Bate-Williams labelled a ‘disgusting threat to kill her’.

“I’ll murder you,” he told the woman. “I can go to prison.”

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Halsey’s victim was said to have felt that she needed permission to spend money and described becoming more and more isolated from her family.

Her then partner ‘insisted’ on seeing her mobile phone and reading her text messages, it was said.

In a victim impact statement, Halsey’s former partner said she had become extremely anxious and depressed as a result of the relationship.

She contrasted her former life with the defendant with her ‘new life’, as she was able to get out and about without worrying following his remand into custody.

Halsey, of Malvern Close, Didcot, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to causing criminal damage, but was found guilty after trial of controlling and coercive behaviour between 2020 and 2023, causing actual bodily harm and making a threat to kill.

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In mitigation, the judge was asked to bear in mind the defendant’s young age and his mental health difficulties, including ‘crippling anxiety’.

Recorder Bate-Williams said it was clear Halsey had never learned the playground rule that ‘most of us learned in the primary [school] playground and that is you never, ever hit a woman’.

He jailed him for two-and-a-half years and imposed an indefinite restraining order.

The defendant was not in court to hear the judge’s sentencing remarks, having elected to stay downstairs in the cells. The court heard he suffered from panic attacks and was content to be sentenced in his absence.