A THUG who terrorised his pregnant girlfriend just two weeks before she gave birth has been jailed for a year.

Casey Hedgecock, 20, who has almost 70 offences on his record, attacked Shelby Bonner, tipped her off the settee, locked her in her house and refused to hand over the key when paramedics came to help her as she feared for her unborn child.

Police eventually had to break into Ms Bonner’s house in Laithe Street, Burnley, and she was taken to the maternity unit, where she was found to have suffered no complications. The baby was born two weeks later.

Weeks later, Ms Bonner, who had received a barrage of calls from the defendant, went out with the baby and her new partner. They bumped into Hedgecock and he claimed he would take the infant away.

He later followed the pair and, wielding a baseball bat and wearing knuckle dusters, threatened violence. He then texted the man, warning he was ‘on his way round, mob-handed’, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Hedgecock, of Hollingreave Road, Burnley, had earlier admitted assault by beating and putting a person in fear of violence.

The defendant has served time in a Young Offenders' Institution for theft and assault and was said to be impulsive and anti-social in his behaviour.