A jealous husband who repeatedly attacked his wife was said to have continued sending her unpleasant messages from behind bars – after he was convicted of coercive control.

Imran Beg, 35, looked towards the public gallery at Oxford Crown Court where his victim, who remains supportive of him, was sitting as he was jailed for four years on Wednesday (March 1).

His controlling and coercive behaviour extended over almost 14 months, between May 2021 and June 2022, when he was living with his wife and her children.

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He subjected her to a number of violent assaults, including choking her, and ripping her clothing while he beat her up in their bedroom.

On another occasion, when he was supposedly prevented from having contact with his wife, he was found in a hire car with the woman.

She had passed police details of the car on to officers, which the judge said he was satisfied was because she ‘wanted to make sure the police were aware of the details of the vehicle in case [Beg] had taken her away in it’.

Beg, of Brighton Road, Reading, who has previously done jail time for attacking a different partner, was found guilty in December of controlling and coercive behaviour, causing actual bodily harm, common assault, witness intimidation and sending a malicious communication towards the police officer investigating his behaviour.

Prosecutor Alexandra Bull said the officer in the case had discovered in February that, since his ban on contacting the victim was lifted after the trial, he had been contacting the woman ‘approximately 15 times a day’. He was asking ‘who she was with, what she was wearing, if she was wearing make-up’, the officer said in a statement.

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Jailing Beg for four years and imposing an extended year on licence, Judge Michael Gledhill KC said the jury had ‘no doubts’ he was guilty of controlling and coercive behaviour towards his wife – and the verdict was made on the ‘clearest possible evidence’.

He said: “Your behaviour towards her was on occasion - and on regular occasions - violent, threatening and obnoxious.”

Mitigating, Caroline Stewart said Beg had completed a number of courses while in custody, including on alcohol and drug abuse and on parenting skills. He was said to take his marriage ‘seriously’ and ‘remains committed’ to his wife.

She said the offences were committed against the background of the death of her client’s mother. He had begun consuming more drugs, taking cannabis every day and cocaine every other day.