A ‘JEALOUS’ Pembrokeshire thug who beat his victim with a dog lead in a ‘terrible and terrifying’ attack got the punishment he deserved, senior judges have ruled.

‘Controlling’ Kieran Lee Jones, 19, of Coronation Avenue, Haverfordwest, was locked up for six years at Swansea Crown Court on December 5 last year.

He admitted aggravated burglary, Sir Alan Wilkie told London’s Appeal Court.

Jones had been in a three-year relationship with Saffron Kopjas and, when it came to an end, she was pregnant with his child.

In October last year, Ms Kopjas and her friend, Joseph Jackson, 20, spent an evening in each other’s company.

Photos were posted on Facebook, which Jones saw.

He sent messages to Mr Jackson threatening to ‘kick his head in’ and beat him with a dog chain.

The victim took the threats seriously, wedging a chair underneath the door handle of his home before going to bed.

But the following morning he woke up to hear the front door being knocked down by Jones.

Jones made good his threat and attacked Mr Jackson with a dog lead, hitting him from all angles, before taking his mobile phone and leaving.

The victim was left with red marks and bruising.

In interview, Jones said he had seen the photos on Facebook and suspected Mr Jackson and his ex-girlfriend may have been in a relationship.

The judge who jailed him said his crime was triggered by his ‘bitterness at the break-up’ of his relationship with Ms Kopjas.

Despite still being a teenager, Jones had amassed a ‘significant number of convictions’, said Sir Alan.

He had 30 convictions for crimes including battery and burglary with intent to cause unlawful damage.

Jones’s previous offending included assaulting Ms Kopjas and slashing and ripping up 50 items of her clothing.

A prison report said he had started his sentence in ‘encouraging fashion’ and appeared ‘well-motivated, polite and respectful’.

James Hartson, for Jones, argued his jail term was far too tough and ought to be cut.

It was ‘wholly disproportionate’ to the seriousness of the crime, claimed the barrister.

He said it was ‘not a traditional offence of its type’ and had been ‘motivated by jealousy’.

Mr Hartson pointed to Jones’s youth and immaturity and said that that the crime was ‘short-lived’ and involved ‘minor injury’ and ‘minor theft’.

But Sir Alan said it was a ‘terrible and terrifying’ crime and that he had a ‘chilling feeling about this particular offending’.

It had been motivated by his ‘burning anger’ which had arisen out of a ‘sense of entitlement and feeling entitled to control and possess other people’.

“The sentence, severe as it is, cannot in the circumstances of this case be seen as other than appropriate and not manifestly excessive,” said the appeal judge.

He hoped Jones would use his time behind bars to ‘mature and allow his anger to cool so this destructive cycle of behaviour which has brought him to this point will be brought to an end’.

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Irwin and Judge Gregory Dickinson QC, dismissed the appeal.