A defendant is set to receive his sentence after making death threats against his neighbours at a residential building in Cwmbran.

Paul Foster, aged 39 and residing at Bronllys Place in Croesyceiliog, entered guilty pleas to the criminal behaviour that occurred on the evening of Thursday June 18.

Cardiff Crown Court was informed that the accused had been involved in a dispute with a couple living nearby who had a toddler.

Lucia Cavaliere, for the prosecution, outlined how the situation escalated at approximately 8.20pm.

Following a brief physical altercation, Foster addressed the woman by saying he would cut her child in two.

Officers were summoned and the defendant was taken into custody.

During the process of being conveyed to a police station, the accused made comments to an officer regarding the male partner, stating the man had been bullying him for months and that on some future occasion he intended to strike him and sever his head.

The defendant continued, according to Miss Cavaliere, by declaring he would embark on a murderous rampage, adding that upon his release he intended to remove the man’s head.

In her account of how the incident affected her, the female complainant stated that the defendant had threatened to beat her partner’s brains from his skull, that she had experienced considerable anxiety and sleeplessness since the occurrence, and that she genuinely believed he would act on his threats.

The criminal conduct constituted a breach of a suspended imprisonment term previously handed down for making threats to kill, religiously-aggravated harassment causing alarm or distress through speech, writing or conduct, and destruction of property.

The accused has an extensive record including 14 previous convictions encompassing 27 separate offences.

Defence counsel Jac Brown urged the court to apply substantial credit for his client’s timely admission of guilt.

The barrister explained that his client struggled with significant mental health difficulties, experiencing anxiety and paranoid thoughts that were worsened by his drinking habits, and had withdrawn from social connections.

Foster did not come to official attention until 2020, when he was already in his thirties.

Judge Christopher Felstead remarked that the defendant had issued grave and disturbing threats.

Foster was ordered to serve 17 months behind bars and subjected to five-year non-contact prohibitions regarding the couple.

Gwent Police have been requested to supply a photograph of the defendant.