AN ‘EXTREMELY jealous’ man has gone on trial accused of manipulating his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children.

James Barr, 37, formerly of Askam-in-Furness, is charged with engaging in controlling/coercive behaviour in an intimate/family relationship over six years.

Preston Crown Court heard the complainant began a relationship with Barr when she was 19 years old.

Opening the facts of the case to the jury on November 18, prosecutor Megan Cox said: “Perhaps naively she thought their relationship was fine at the start but she realised things were far from fine.

“He would demean her and her family, making comments about how they spoke. He would control which family members their two children could see.

“He would make her feel guilty and prevent her from seeing her family. He would make her feel worthless. He made remarks about her weight and how she should have surgery to her body so she could look a particular way.”

Ms Cox said the defendant would also allegedly control what he wanted her to wear and that he would go on dating applications to show her pictures of women he aspired her to look like.

“He was extremely jealous of her and needed to know who she was speaking to,” Ms Cox added.

“He would check through her phone and bombard her with calls and messages when she was out of the house."

The court heard the victim tried to end the relationship but the defendant told her they would have to ‘co-exist’ for the sake of their two children.

The court was told he purportedly told the woman she would never see her children again if she left.

“She was in a trapped, abusive relationship and isolated from her friends and family,” Ms Cox concluded to the jury.

The court heard Barr, now of Marine Drive, Bigbury-on-Sea, Devon, told police he was the victim in the case.

The trial continues.