A CONTROLLING man knocked his ex's dad out, dragged her to the floor by her hair and told her bosses about her sex life.

David Jones of Stotfield Avenue, Warndon Villages, Worcester punched his ex's father twice, possibly three times, in her home rendering him unconscious.

The 40-year-old, who appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Friday, was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by beating following the attacks on July 16 last year.

He was further convicted of controlling and coercive behaviour between March 1 and July 16 last year and stalking between August 1 and October 20 last year following a trial held at Hereford Magistrates Court on June 24 this year.

Mark Hemming, prosecuting the case at Worcester, said the couple had been in a relationship for a short period.

The complainant was 'becoming concerned about his behaviour, controlling as it was' which culminated in a 'summit meeting' at her home which her father attended.

Mr Hemming said: "The defendant was refusing to leave her home on the basis he had nowhere else to go and said he would require something like six months in order to find himself somewhere to go."

The woman's father asked him to leave and told him if he did not go he would call the police.

Jones then punched him twice (the probation report indicated three times), rendering him unconscious and leaving him with a cut to his head and bruising.

While Jones's former partner was trying to part the two men he 'grabbed hold of her by the hair and pulled her to the ground'.

However it was the defendant who suggested they call an ambulance.

Referring to the controlling behaviour, Mr Hemming said that while his partner was in a Zoom call during Covid restrictions he would check who she was speaking to.

"The reason for that was, at some point in the relationship, she had given him information that she had had a relationship with somebody at work (and other details about her sex life).

"He took exception to that and didn't want her to be involved with the people she worked with. He thought this might happen again or was continuing to happen" said Mr Hemming.

The prosecutor also described how he would check her computer and WhatsApp messages.

He 'became obsessive and kept on about her leaving her employer', he said.

"Eventually she decided she had no choice but to do so" he said.

"Three months after the assaults, when the relationship was already over, she took steps to return to the company where she had been employed before.

Jones discovered this and sent an email to her employers, including to a company director, about the relationship she had had with colleagues, questioning why they would want to employ her.

"She has no idea how he knew she was going back" he said.

Judge James Burbidge QC made a restraining order for five years which prevents Jones having any contact, directly or indirectly, with his ex or her father, from going to her place of work in Ledbury or from entering Stoke Lacy.

However, he adjourned the case until August 23 to see if the defence wished to pursue a judicial review following issues raised at the sentence hearing by Jones's barrister, Julia Needham.

The judge advised Jones that Mrs Needham could explain to him why the case had reached an impasse.

He indicated that be believed the case crossed the custody threshold.