A MAN “lost control” and repeatedly punched and kicked a woman in her own flat after she told him to stop “messing around” with food she was cooking.

Shane Goodridge, 29, was at the 59-year-old victim’s flat in Milford Haven on Saturday, January 13.

“He had drunk two cans of cider and smoked something,” prosecutor Brian Simpson said.

Goodridge went in to the kitchen and started “messing around” with some food the victim was cooking. When she asked him to stop, he starting hitting her.

The victim reported Goodridge hit her to the head at least 10 times, leaving her feeling “really scared” and “defenceless”, Mr Simpson said.

As she used her arms to protect her head, Goodridge then started kicking her, before throwing his metal tobacco tin at her. He then left the flat, and the victim called the police.

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The defendant returned and threatened to kill her when she wouldn’t let him in. From inside the flat, she could hear someone attempting to calm Goodridge down, and he left.

Around five minutes later, he returned again. Mr Simpson described Goodridge as this time being “nice to her”. When she again refused to let him in, he left again.

Goodridge had gone when the police arrived, and wasn’t at his own address when officers checked there. However, he was found in a nearby alleyway and was arrested.

“He appeared heavily intoxicated,” Mr Simpson said.

The victim said, via a statement read to the court by Mr Simpson, that the incident had left her feeling “unsafe”.

“I was trying to help him and give him a good meal, but he had lost control,” she said.

The court heard that Goodridge, now of Tregarne Close in Cwmrhydyceirw, Swansea, had 17 previous convictions for 32 offences.

Jon Tarrant, mitigating, said that Goodridge had pleaded guilty at a plea and trial preparation hearing to battery and threatening violence to secure entry.

He added that Goodridge had been in custody since January 15 and “has effectively served a six month custodial sentence”.

Addressing the defendant, Judge Geraint Walters said: “Shane Goodridge, I don’t know when it is that you will finally decide that there’s more to life than committing offences and coming back to court.

“You know that the underlying problem is your drinking.”

He sentenced the defendant to four months, running concurrently, for each offence. Goodridge will be released from prison imminently as he has already served the custodial part of the sentence.

Judge Walters also granted the victim a three-year restraining order.

Goodridge denied an offence of making threats to kill. The prosecution offered no evidence on this – accepting his other guilty pleas – and Judge Walters entered a formal not guilty verdict.