Shotgun man tried to strangle ex-girlfriend

The court heard Mr Bateman had a fight with his father

A teenage girl whose former boyfriend fired at her head with a sawn-off shotgun has told a jury how he tried to strangle her with a belt just days earlier.

Lucy Jones, 16, was giving evidence at Swansea Crown Court against Andrew Dean Bateman, 18, who is charged with attempting to murder her.

Mr Bateman was said to have a violent lifestyle

Miss Jones said Mr Bateman's violent lifestyle included a fight with this father just days before he attacked her for ending their relationship.

Mr Bateman admits wounding but denies trying to kill Miss Jones with the shotgun blast - and an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm - after confronting her in the car park of the Lidl superstore in Morriston, Swansea.

Miss Jones said police were called to Mr Bateman's home in Llanllienwen Road, Morriston, following the fight with his father.

But the court heard that his family re-assured officers that Mr Bateman had agreed to see a doctor about his temper.

Temper

Miss Jones said Mr Bateman later confided that his doctor had decided he did not have any mental health problems but more straightforward difficulties in controlling his temper.

The prosecution claims Bateman was unable to cope with Miss Jones' decision to end their year-long relationship.

On Monday, Elwen Evans QC, said the defendant had managed to acquire a double barrel shotgun and two cartridges.

After confronting Miss Jones last July, he shot once from close range, she said.

Ms Evans said: "He raised the gun to the horizontal firing position and pointed the gun at her.

Plastic surgery

"She was only a matter of feet away when he fired it and hit her in the back of the head."

She added: "You do not fire a gun at somebody from feet away so that it hits them in the head unless you intend to kill them.

"It is luck not judgment which saved Lucy from what he intended that day."

A pellet from the blast became lodged in his victim's scalp but did not penetrate her skull.

Miss Jones' treatment involved plastic surgery and a skin graft but she was able to make a full recovery.