A MAN who assaulted his pregnant ex-girlfriend and kicked a police officer in the face is to be sentenced.

Andrew Royce, aged 41 and of Montgomery Road, was produced in custody at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

He admitted six offences;

  • Damaging garden furniture belonging to Tammy Strange on June 4 at Rhos
  • Assaulting Tammy Strange between February 1 and February 29
  • Assaulting her again on May 23
  • Stalking relating to Tammy Strange between June 1 and 5
  • And two counts of assaulting a police officer which happened in Rhos on June 4

Prosecutor Rhian Jackson told the court that Ms Strange was in a relationship with the defendant from September last year until the early part of this year.

She became pregnant with his child in February and according to Ms Strange, the relationship was fine at that stage.

But Royce started drinking alcohol and became aggressive.

On a date in February, Royce punched her in the ribs and "trashed her home."

On May 23, when she was at home, Royce forced his way into the property and hurled abuse at her.

He appeared drunk, the court heard, and grabbed her by the wrist, as well as stepping on her foot.

When he was told the police were on the way, he ran.

Ms Strange realised Royce had also sent her messages early that morning accusing her of infidelity.

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After being interviewed by police, Royce was released with bail conditions not to contact or approach the victim.

But he breached both of those.

On June 2, he messages her asking: "Who the f*** are you ignoring?

"F****** stop flirting you c*** while you've got my baby.

"Think you can do what you want - you're a f****** joke kid."

In the early hours of Tuesday (June 4) he messaged her, threatening to come to her address and telling her: "You're getting done."

An hour or two later, there was a knock at her door which she knew would be the defendant.

Ms Strange called the police immediately, but before they arrived, Royce threw a garden table at her back door and hurled a pair of chairs over her back gate.

Officers arrived to deal with Royce, who told them: "I'll smash the f****** pair of you," and swung around, knocking them backwards.

He put one officer in a headlock and pushed them face first into the floor.

Royce then punched the officer to the back and kicked them in the face, before running.

He began to make his way towards Johnstown but was ultimately apprehended when more officers arrived in response to an emergency call for assistance.

Ms Jackson said Royce has 17 previous convictions for 31 offences.

Stephen Edwards, defending told the court his client received a sentence of 12 weeks suspended for two years in January 2022 for a malicious communications offence.

"There was no breach of that order," he said.

"That last sentence actually worked because for two years there was no offending.

"I'm not saying he has the best record; clearly he hasn't.

The Leader:

"But something's gone badly wrong in the early part of this year and Andrew would be the first to admit this.

"It was a happy relationship until they ran into significant problems around February.

"There were problems on both sides and alcohol plays a part in this.

"He was convinced Ms Strange had a relationship with another man whilst expecting his child and that was going around his head.

"He said to me that what he needs to do is get his life back on track and get back into employment."

The court adjourned the sentencing until June 26, with a full pre-sentence report to be prepared in the meantime.

Royce was remanded in custody until his next hearing.